


Fourth Time's the Charm

by holyfudgemonkeys (erraticallyinspired)



Series: Courtship and Beyond [1]
Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Ainsley is a little shit but we all love her for it, Alpha Ainsley Whitly, Alpha Gil Arroyo, Alpha Martin Whitly, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Beta Jackie Arroyo, Beta Jessica Whitly, Chaperones, Courtship, F/M, Hand Feeding, Hand Jobs, Knotting, Knotting Dildos, Lace Panties, M/M, Mating Bites, Mating Bond, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mpreg, Multi, Nesting, Omega Malcolm Bright, POV Alternating, Past Relationship(s), Pegging, Polyamory, Pre-Canon, Scenting, Sex Toys, Sibling Bonding, Strap-Ons, Threesome - F/M/M, mentions of Vijay/Malcolm, starts just as Malcolm graduates college
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:40:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 22,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23758516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erraticallyinspired/pseuds/holyfudgemonkeys
Summary: In which Gil is a soft, sappy alpha who doesn't realize he's courting Malcolm until Jackie points it out.(Last chapter coming on August 25th)
Relationships: Gil Arroyo/Jackie Arroyo, Gil Arroyo/Jackie Arroyo/Malcolm Bright
Series: Courtship and Beyond [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1892203
Comments: 90
Kudos: 187





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to all my goblins <3 This story probably wouldn't exist without them

Gil sits through nearly a week of amused looks before he breaks and finally asks his wife why she keeps making those cute little snorting noises while he’s trying to talk. 

Jackie does it again. “You _really_ haven’t figured it out?” She reaches up and pokes him gently between the eyes. “Dear, you’re courting.”

“No, I’m not,” he says immediately. There’s no way he is. He went through that phase years and years ago with Jackie, falling in love with the beta woman more and more as she humored his instincts.

“You’ve been the poster boy for sappy alpha courtship for days.” She flops down on the couch and grins up at him. “You’re stuck in the middle of the provider stage. Your omega beau has accepted your advances, and now you’re showing off,” she explains with a dramatic sigh.

But Gil isn’t laughing. “Jackie, there’s no one else.”

“Gil,” she says seriously, “I know you’re not leaving me. Just think about it, okay?”

~

It takes him the rest of the night to realize who she’s talking about, and he’s not sure how to feel, because ‘his’ omega is undoubtedly _Malcolm_. The college student is the only one he can think of. His relationship with all of his coworkers, alpha or omega or beta, has remained the same as ever, but he hasn’t seen Malcolm consistently since the young omega left for college. 

Sure, he comes back for his breaks — Gil isn’t sure Jessica would let him _not_ , with how restless she is with her nest one member down. So Malcolm has visited with him and Jackie a handful of times, though less than he was able to while in boarding school. There have been phone calls, too, and plenty of them. It’s clear the omega misses everyone back in New York even if he doesn’t miss the memories the city holds for him. 

Malcolm’s scent has changed since the last time he spent long enough at the Arroyo’s for it to become ingrained in the house. It’s matured, no longer the soft hint of sugar. It’s sweet and syrupy like the candy he loves and slightly smoky with something new. 

Gil’s not used to it anymore. His mind doesn’t immediately designate it as someone under his protection, someone in his pack. Now, it registers as _omega_ , a clever and attractive and familiar one at that. The shift has changed things.

He looks at the most recent photo of the three of them and winces. He’s got Jackie under one arm, holding her tight. And Malcolm is under the other, Gil’s arm warm and possessive around him. He can’t say he’s explicitly thought of the omega in a sexual way, but his instincts have been kicked up lately. 

Jackie commented on it once, joking that she didn’t mind. He wonders if she already knew why his body was going crazy. 

Now that he thinks about it, he _has_ been touching Malcolm more. He thought it was because of the distance, of the infrequent visits. Apparently not. He also sent the younger man a care package two weeks ago. It was loaded with snacks both good for him and in line with the sugar he loves so much, some of it homemade, because Gil himself always preferred the less processed foods with his senses. He’d even sent two handkerchiefs — one with his own scent, the other with Jackie’s — in the name of helping him settle in in an unfamiliar place. 

Malcolm called him after the package, so grateful, so much more cheerful than usual, and the alpha was overjoyed.

Gil groans. Sappy alpha courtship, what an understatement.

~

To be fair, he really does try to rein his instincts in the next time he talks to the omega. The problem is that the moment the call connects, the moment he hears Malcolm’s voice, his body relaxes, letting go of the tension he didn’t even know he carried. It’s not an unusual response. Alphas want to be close to the object of their affections all the time at this stage of the courtship. It was an old urge, one born of the need to fend off any rivals and keep their claim on their choice of mate. In this day and age, most consider it silly and outdated for all that they can’t prevent themselves from feeling it. 

He felt the same with Jackie. 

The way Malcolm’s voice softens at the sound of his own lets Gil know he’s in the same boat. Betas don’t feel the urge. Omegas do. 

Gil isn’t sure he wants to know if Malcolm has realized yet. On some level he must have, or else the alpha’s instincts wouldn’t have shifted him past the initial courtship stage, but it’s not something he wants to come out and ask.

So instead, he says, “When are you coming home, city boy?” 

“I have one more week left, and then all of my finals this semester are essays I can send in from home,” Malcolm says eagerly, sounding more happy to go back to New York than he did at the start of college.

He has to know, Gil thinks. He swallows. It wasn’t that long ago that the omega spent as much time as he could out of state. “Let me know when your train comes in. Jackie and I will pick you up.” As selfish as it is, it means he’ll be the first to hug him, to brush his scent off on him with the contact, and he has a feeling that his wife’s beta scent will only add to the combination. It _might_ also give them a chance to talk before Jessica susses out what’s happening.

He doesn’t want to think of how _that_ will go.

“Thanks, Gil.” There’s a pause. “I’m looking forward to seeing you two again.”

The alpha murmurs a goodbye and hangs up, desperately trying not to think of the three of them entwined in a nest.

~

Three days later, Jackie drags him out to the Le Mans. He lets her, bemused.

“We’re buying new blankets,” she explains as she closes his hand around the keys, the rabbit’s foot keychain soft in his palm. 

“Do we _need_ new blankets?” He starts the car up anyway. 

His wife snorts as she fiddles with the radio. “I don’t know, Gil, do we?” She smiles impishly. “ _You’re_ the one who remade the guest bed four times in the last three days. I figured we needed softer nesting materials.”

With a sigh, he pulls out onto the road. She’s right, of course. They didn’t even know if Malcolm would stay over at all — though the alpha hoped and expected he would at some point — and yet, one of the first things he did after their last phone call was freshen up the guest room. He switched the old sheets out for new ones. Then he did it again. And again. None of them were soft enough, comfortable enough, _good enough_ for their omega. 

They spend a pretty penny at the store, but it feels right. Even if Malcolm doesn’t ultimately accept their offer, he can keep the lot as a gift. The sheets are soft flannel. The blankets are a mix, all of them blissfully soft to the touch, and Gil can imagine the omega lining the inner layers of his nest with those, each one big enough to cradle three thanks to Jackie, who insisted on the biggest ones in stock. 

“This way we don’t have to replace them later,” she reasons with a grin, holding one up to her face. “C’mon dear, let’s go pay so that we can go home and scent these.”

They do. They lay each one across the master bed and curl up in the pile while they watch TV, their combined alpha and beta scents sinking into the fabric. All it’s missing is omega. 

~

Malcolm’s chest feels tight. His skin is stretched too thin, his eyes too wide. It’s not anxiety, thankfully, but he’s not entirely sure if he likes this feeling either.

He’s _giddy_.

His suitcase is stashed in the overhead compartments, and his messenger bag rests between his feet, half empty without his laptop. He alternates between staring at the half-written essay on his screen and out the window of the train. He wonders if he could write his professors and get extra time to get through the buzz of his first real courtship. 

There have been brief brushes in the past, the first with his old boarding school buddy, Vijay. Vijay was rich, alpha, and if his family tree was anything to go by, he was destined to grow up handsome, but he’d also been a black sheep with his father in jail. 

Just like Malcolm. He was just a scrawny omega at the time, too smart for his own good. 

They became friends through their shared troubles. Initially, they were too young to care about their designations. Eventually, they shared a few firsts — first kiss, first handjob, first blowjob, even, though that was as far as they got before Vijay’s father was released. Before they stopped talking, Malcolm fading into the background while the alpha rose to the top of the social ladder. 

He gave up on his silly dreams of being Malcolm Chandasara pretty quick.

When he first got to college, there was a sweet alpha girl whose eye he caught. She initiated a courtship soon enough, doting on him and building up his rickety self esteem one compliment at a time. He worried about revealing his nightmares at first. She took it in stride and made him a sleep kit, which made him feel loved even though no amount of tea or lavender would help him sleep.

Then someone told her that he was, in fact, from _that_ Whitly family. The courtship was cut short, the compliments turned to nasty remarks, and he was branded a liar. 

The third time he nearly had an alpha, it was another one of his peers, this time his partner in one of his psych classes. The boy already knew who he was, who his father was, and didn’t care. 

That should have been warning enough. 

Malcolm ended the courtship himself as soon as he stopped lying to himself, admitted that the alpha saw him as something to study more than anything. 

Now, however, things are different. He knows Gil and Jackie too well. He knows they wouldn’t drop him as soon as they got bored, or be disgusted by his parentage, or see him as a way to his father. They _already_ loved him. The courtship would just deepen that love.

When he went home for spring break in freshman year, he could tell things had shifted. Not enough to make a big difference, but the Arroyos’ scents were drifting away from platonic to something more attractive. They were richer, somehow. Jackie was all spice, like the cinnamon candies that burn your nose with their warmth, make you salivate. Gil, on the other hand, was a strong musky smell, kind of earthy with a pungency to it not unlike licorice or star anise. 

Malcolm _loves_ cinnamon and licorice. 

Months and then years passed without much happening. There was a tension there during winter break this year, his final year, but it didn’t amount to anything other than a spark of arousal every time he caught Gil’s gaze on him or Jackie’s considering look.

Spring break was when it really kicked off. He had more time to spend with them then, and he basked in the smell of them together and how it warmed him from the inside out. He tagged along in Gil’s car while he worked, studied at the kitchen table while the couple puttered around the kitchen making dinner, went for walks with them in the park. 

It was there that they ran into a friend of Jackie’s. She took a picture of the three of them, Gil in the middle holding both his wife and Malcolm tight. He pressed the omega up against his side, and the heat of his body came through the sweater he wore, his licorice scent stronger up close. Malcolm _melted_ in the half embrace. 

Ever since, he chased those scents anywhere he could find them. He bought out the grocery store’s stock of cinnamon candies and black licorice as soon as he went back, desperately missing them.

He received a package a few weeks later. Ripping into it, he found tupperware full of brownies and cookies, both of which he knew would smell just like the Arroyo kitchen on the weekends. He moaned as he ate one of the former. There were also bags of candy, all of his favorites. The best part, however, was the sealed bag at the bottom. It held two handkerchiefs — one cinnamon, another licorice. 

Pressing them up against his face, Malcolm’s eyes slid shut, his body humming. This was an offer. A beginning. A _courtship_. As soon as he could pull himself away from the scraps of fabric, he called Gil. 

The omega shuts his laptop and secures it in his bag, finally giving up the pretense of work. He’s too geared up to see Gil and Jackie for the first time since he accepted their offer, and it makes the train ride all the longer. 


	2. Chapter 2

Gil leans up against the Le Mans, trying for nonchalance. Tucked under one arm is his grinning wife. 

“I haven’t seen you this nervous since you proposed,” Jackie teases. “Sappy alpha.”

He clears his throat. His eyes are still trained to the building’s entrance. “You’ve never complained.”

“And neither will Malcolm. _Relax_.” She shifts closer to him, allowing him to tighten his grip, his frame relaxing ever so slightly as he gets a stronger whiff of her. 

And then there he is. Malcolm, hair loose and clad in a college sweatshirt, walks out the door. His suitcase trails behind him, and his computer bag is slung over his shoulder. He smiles and ducks his head when he sees them, picking up his pace. 

Jackie worms her way out of the alpha’s grip to wrap their omega up in a big hug. It’s not just any hug, however. As a beta, she doesn’t have the instincts or senses that tell her to do this or that, but she’s lived with Gil for long enough to have picked up plenty, and so she lets Malcolm stick his nose in the crook of her neck and inhale. She rubs a wrist along the nape of the omega’s as they part. 

Gil shifts in place. He can feel a possessive warmth spreading through him at the image, his beta and his omega so happy and familiar with each other rather than fighting. He pushes off the car and ignores the way his wife holds back laughter. “Hey city boy!” 

Malcolm flushes. The red spreads across his pale skin. “Gil.”

Opening his arms wide, the alpha encases both omega and beta in an embrace, holding them tight to him as the scent of all three of them together mingles in his nose. There’s a soft rumble in his throat.

Jackie doesn’t bother holding back the snickers this time.

He smiles but ignores it as Malcolm tucks his face into the alpha’s neck, his eyes sliding shut. 

They must stand there for five, ten minutes just scenting each other. It’s a heady feeling to finally be able to do so with the knowledge that they’re officially courting. 

Jackie is the one to break them up, prodding Gil’s side and reminding him that the dinner she put in the slow cooker should be done soon. She kisses the pout off of his face. Then, with a split second of consideration, she leans over and gives Malcolm a peck, too, before going back to the Le Mans.

The omega turns impossibly blue eyes on Gil. That’s all it takes to convince the alpha to complete the set, to capture his lips and taste the traces of the sticky sweetness of his wife’s lip gloss.

They get into the car after Jackie honks the horn, rolling her eyes even as she smiles.

~

Malcolm can only stay for dinner, not the night itself. It’s not strictly a breach in the unspoken courtship rules since a beta is present, although he’s sure if his mother knew, she’d throw a fit. People as rich as they are are _strict_ about chaperones. 

But Malcolm is older than most omegas in his wealth bracket are for their first courtship, and he can’t bring himself to care. His mother’s peers already have a low opinion of their family. They wouldn’t want him for their alpha children with or without knowing he’s about to spend a few hours unchaperoned with the couple. 

He gravitates towards Jackie as they wait for Gil to unlock the door. He basks in the smile she sends his way, the feeling of the soft hand that grabs his own. It doesn’t matter that she’s a beta. She and Gil have always been a set in his mind, and his instincts treated them as such. Her presence is just as lifting as the alpha’s. 

Privately, when he thinks about his next heat, the heat they’ll hopefully bond during, he always imagines Jackie being just as central as Gil. He wants _both_ of them. 

~

The house smells amazing. Gil knows from experience that the thick, savory smell of chicken and salsa will linger for hours in the small quarters. He removes his coat and moves into the kitchen to shred the meat. 

Behind him, his beta and omega settle on the couch. There’s a rustling, a few thuds. Likely from Jackie removing her heels. She murmurs something, and the rustling returns. The soft sweet edge of Malcolm’s scent kicks up, the boost of it wafting into the kitchen.

Gil hums as he makes quick work of the chicken. He can smell the omega’s contentment, not terribly unlike what it smelled like years before, but now, as it curls around him, he wants nothing more than to join them. He takes a deep breath, his eyes sliding shut, a contented rumbling building in his chest.

Shaking his head, he pulls out three plates and the pack of hamburger buns. Food first. He thinks about how little Malcolm eats, about how skinny he is. It helps. If there’s anything his instincts will prioritize over contact, it’s _providing_. “Dinner’s done,” Gil calls out as he piles chicken on the buns with a pair of tongs. 

Jackie and Malcolm come into the kitchen. The omega isn’t wearing his school sweatshirt anymore, his hair mussed from taking it off. Now, he’s wearing a soft gray v-neck. So much skin is left bare, especially the smooth strip right where a bonding bite would go, and there’s plenty of space on both sides, one side for Jackie and one for Gil.

The alpha sets the last two plates of food on the small table with a heavy clank. 

His wife smirks, herding Malcolm into the seat in the middle. 

~

“Relax,” Jackie says quietly as she removes her heels, letting them fall to the floor. “This is still your house, too. No matter where this goes.”

She’s not wrong, but she’s not quite right, either. He pulls the sweatshirt over his head to reveal the v-neck he’s wearing underneath it, the shirt he spent a good hour that morning deciding on, trying to figure out how much skin is too much skin, how deep the neck should be to tease without going over the top, how to make sure he looks like the adult he is. He glances over at her to gauge her reaction as he drapes it over the back of the couch.

Jackie takes him in leisurely, her eyes lingering on his bare neck, the lines of his collar bone. “He’s going to go nuts,” she tells him and whistles quietly. “But you know he’d want you even in all the layers, babe.”

He lets her snuggle up next to him and wraps an arm around her.

“Dinner’s done!”

“Keep an eye on him,” she whispers. 

When they walk into the kitchen, he waits for Gil to see him. 

Gil doesn’t disappoint. He stills, eyes darkening, and he practically drops the plates in his hands. 

~

Dinner is fairly quiet. At least, in comparison to how it used to be. It’s not a bad silence, just a weighty one. 

Jackie smiles into her sandwich when she catches her husband staring at Malcolm again, his eyes tracking the omega’s tongue as he licks a dribble of juice off his thumb. She might be watching, too, if not for Gil. She can’t help but love watching him go crazy. He’s so _smitten_. 

Malcolm is, too, of course, but that’s nothing terribly new. As soon as the alpha started showing signs of courting him, Jackie knew the younger man would be wearing both their bites within a few months. Both, because Gil had once coaxed her through the process of leaving her mark on him, despite it not being customary to do so, and she’s found herself looking at Malcolm, too. He’s smart, loving, lithe, _flexible…_

She takes a sip of her iced tea, diverting her gaze as the omega shifts to watch her, a blush building on his cheeks. 

Gil clears his throat as soon as they’re all done eating. He makes to stand, but she shakes her head.

Rising herself, Jackie stacks the three plates and takes them to the sink for a quick wash. “Why don’t you start, dear,” she says over her shoulder.

“So, you’re home for the summer, kid.” The alpha shifts in his seat. 

She laughs and rolls her eyes, sticking a few fingers under the water to test the temperature. “He’s trying to ask when your next heat is.” 

“What Jackie said,” he says sheepishly. “If it’s soon, we can always wait until the one after —”

“ _No!_ I don’t want to wait. I don’t need that long to know I want this.”

Turning the water off, she leans back against the counter so that she can actually look at both of them. She catches Malcolm’s eye, his face pleading. “We want this, too, babe,” she promises. They do. She thinks of all of the bedding they bought, all the baking Gil has been doing, all of the times she’s fantasized about curling up in bed with both men. “When is it?”

Malcolm swallows. “Two weeks.”


	3. Chapter 3

_Two weeks._ Gil closes his eyes and desperately tries not to think about how, in fourteen short days, he and Jackie will be taking their omega apart, bringing him back together again with two deep bites. “Okay,” he says. 

“Okay?” Malcolm says, looking at him. He’s practically falling out of his chair with how eager he is. 

His scent is _strong_. Thick, syrupy sweetness fills the kitchen.

The alpha nods. “Jackie and I will prepare. In the meantime, we’ll date, finish up the courtship, and if we’re not ready in two weeks, we’re not ready.”

“We want to do this right,” his wife pipes up.

Which means — “We also need to talk.” Gil makes a point to smile, to ensure Malcolm knows it isn’t a bad kind of talk. It’s not difficult. In fact, it’s hard not to smile in the face of his eagerness. “We all want to bond, but kid, we’ve lived our whole lives in this city, and I know it’s hard for you to be here.”

“Not if I have a reason to come back.” The omega looks back at him, stubborn and serious. 

Jackie lays a hand on his shoulder. Her fingers brush bare skin. “What about your dreams? The FBI, remember?”

“There’s a mandatory two years of experience on the force,” Malcolm explains. “If I do that here, I can be close, and the Bureau takes mates into account when they assign agents to areas. I’ll have to leave for missions, but I’ll live here. With you two.”

Gil shares a look with his wife. Neither of them are terribly surprised. Malcolm was stubborn when he set his mind on something. “You’ve put a lot of thought into this.”

“It’s all I’ve been able to think about.” His face is open, earnest, and the alpha knows he’s telling the truth.

“You said you’d live here,” Gil says, heat simmering in his gut just thinking about it. He wouldn’t be adverse to moving to a new house, of course, his instincts reminding him that conceiving with an omega — especially with a stable beta presence like Jackie in the mix — is leagues easier than doing so with a beta for an alpha like him. The two of them had pretty much given up years ago. They came to be okay with the cards they were dealt. 

But now his mind conjures up the image of his beta soothing a small brown haired baby while their omega slumbers in the next room, of all three mates having a lazy morning in bed, a toddler tucked between them. Of finding Jackie tucked around a pregnant Malcolm in their nest. 

\--------------------- 

“Of course,” Malcolm says. He never thought otherwise. This house smells so strongly of the Arroyos, years of living there imprinting it into the carpets, the walls. He’s always loved it here, and now there’s another level to it. It’s all too easy to imagine himself between them in such familiar surroundings. _Especially_ for their bonding heat.

Jackie squeezes his shoulder and sits down next to him again. “Give him a moment to process that,” she whispers, lips curling up as she tries not to laugh at her dumbstruck husband. “He’s _very_ into the idea, trust me. Now, tell me babe, have you told your mother yet?”

Grimacing, the omega shakes his head. His mother is the biggest obstacle he can think of. He doesn’t need her approval, not at his age, but it doesn’t mean he wouldn’t like it. The problem is that she’s… suspicious of any relationship where his partner would be in a position to gain something from him. It won’t matter that it’s Gil and Jackie. She was burned by one alpha, used for her station and her wealth and the opportunities that provided. She’d been okay with Vijay for the most part and since then, none of the others. 

Unfortunately, it’s not like she’ll be able to smell the way they mesh, how comfortable Malcolm is with them. She’s a beta and will approach this purely on facts.

Malcolm is a young omega. A young, _wealthy_ omega.

Gil and Jackie are good people, but they don’t have nearly the amount the Whitlys have in the bank. They’re older, have been together for years and years, and they have no kids.

But, meeting Jackie’s gaze, Malcolm knows they would never use him like that. 

\----------------

She clears her throat, hoping to jar her husband out of whatever silly alpha nonsense he’s stuck in. “There’s one last thing we need to discuss before we take you home.”

“Already?” Malcolm pouts.

“No courting in this house after the sun goes down,” she says, half joking, half serious. Jackie knows Jessica well enough to know that she might be mollified by her beta presence here, but she won’t be happy if her omega son stays out late with an alpha, honorable or not. “Malcolm, are you on birth control?”

It’s not that she minds if he isn’t. She knows herself and her husband well enough to be certain that any child the omega has, whether theirs or someone else’s, would be loved by them. She can tell especially by the way Gil freezes, his eyes blown wide, that he would love to see _their_ omega pregnant. But she doesn’t have any instincts clouding her mind at the moment. If Malcolm falls pregnant, his plans could be derailed, and _that’s_ what concerns her. 

He shakes his head. “I can make an appointment if you want me to. There’s enough time.” But he looks conflicted. Evidently, this isn’t something he considered.

Jackie holds back a sigh. “This is not my decision to make,” she says softly. “Gil and I will support you no matter what you choose. The police department on the other hand — they won’t let you patrol after a few months. That could push back your career, babe.”

“Take some time to think about it,” Gil chimes in, finally pulling himself together again. He clears his throat. “We should take you home, kid. I’m sure your mother will be excited to see you.”

\---------------------

She is, unsurprisingly. She hugs him tight, rubbing some of her floral beta scent off on him without really meaning to, and Malcolm’s glad she doesn’t have the senses an alpha or omega would have.

He’s sure he _reeks_ of the Arroyos. No one gets out of a courtship otherwise, long distance or not. 

Over her shoulder, he sees Ainsley giving him an odd look. He nods shallowly and is relieved to get a nod in return. He’ll explain the slight shift in his scent later.

“I can have the chef make you a little something,” his mother says as they part. “I’m sure you’ve not eaten in _hours_.” 

That probably would have been true a few months ago, before the courtship, before he began to see meals as _providing_. “Gil and Jackie made dinner.”

She squints at him. “Did you eat any of it?”

“Yes, mother.” He smiles a little, in part because he can’t not smile thinking about the evening he spent with his courters. 

“If you say so, dear. I suppose you’re going to go unpack?” There’s a bitter note to her scent then.

He’s not _unused_ to her disappointment, and more importantly, he knows that she doesn’t mean it to be directed at him, not really. In some ways, all three of them mourn the loss of the life they could have had. “I was thinking of having a nightcap, actually,” he says, because he does need to talk to her about this, and booze might help her relax into it. If he had his way, he would avoid the topic forever. He just… wants to bond with his alpha and beta as soon as possible, and it would be difficult if he wasn’t honest with his mother.

She smiles radiantly, like she used to. 

Ainsley, devil that she can be, moves off in the direction of the kitchen, no doubt for a snack to go with the show. 

Malcolm leaves his things by the steps after fishing out the bag of cinnamon candies he brought back with him. He unwraps one and pops it in his mouth as he follows his mother into the sitting room with the bar. There he settles into one of the chairs, waiting for her to get drinks. 

She pours him a finger of the same scotch she chooses for herself. “So,” she starts cheerfully, “how were your finals?”

“Good. Mother —”

“As expected of my eldest.” She sips her drink.

He waits until she swallows. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees his sister slipping in with a plate of cookies. “I’m being courted, and I’m going to accept the offer.”

Her face doesn’t sour necessarily, just grows concerned. “Tell me their name, and I’ll have a contract written up.” And send an investigator after them. She doesn’t have to say it.

Hell, she might have asked Gil, if it was anyone else.

“I don’t need a contract,” he says, patient on the surface, a well of anxiety underneath. “They already love me, Mother.” 

For all that she’s good at masking her face for the public, for the society pages, for family friends who only remain friends as long as your husband _isn’t_ a serial killer, she can’t do it in front of her kids. Now it’s sour. Undoubtedly, whatever she says next will stem from the pain she still carries. The mental and emotional scars Martin left on her. 

But Malcolm knows this situation is _nothing_ like that. “It’s Gil,” he forces out, reluctant to give it away so soon and yet also not wanting the conversation to escalate. “And Jackie. Both of them.”

She opens her mouth to talk several times. Each time she shuts it right away. Eventually she settles on something. “They’re old enough to be your parents,” she says. “I _knew_ I should have nipped that in the bud as soon as you started your heats.” She stands up and paces. “There are so many better matches out there for you, dear.”

“Really?” He stands up, too, unable to bury the hurt he feels. “If you haven’t noticed, Mother, I’m not exactly swimming in offers.”

“Malcolm, there are very few reasons an older couple bond with a young omega. I didn’t think they were like that, but —” 

“They’re _not_.” Part of him knows that she wouldn’t say that if she had more time to work through this. Even with her distrust of alphas, she’s spent too much time with the Arroyos herself to really think that. “I love them, and I will be accepting their offer, whether you approve or not.”

Behind him, Ainsley is moving.

Their mother tosses back the rest of her drink. “ _Fine_.”

Gritting his teeth, Malcolm sets his untouched drink on the bar before he leaves to go to his room. He needs space. They both do. His cell phone is burning a hole in his pocket, too, and hopefully, the Arroyos are still awake. When he passes an uncomfortable Ainsley, he tells her to stay behind. “Take care of her,” he insists, because he loves his mother. He can only hope this doesn’t destroy their relationship.

He calls the Arroyos as soon as he closes his bedroom door behind him. 

“How did it go?” Jackie says immediately. 

“Not well.” Malcolm sinks into his bed, which unfortunately barely smells of himself anymore let alone Jackie or Gil. He rolls the shrinking cinnamon candy around in his mouth to at least give himself the illusion. “Is Gil there?” It comes out needy. He winces. 

“Let me put you on speaker, babe.”

There’s a staticky click. “Hey city boy.”

Something in him eases, and he sprawls out across the duvet. “Alpha.” He hums. “Can you two just talk for a while?”

“Sure,” Jackie says, soft and loving.

And they do. Gil tells him about the new detective he just hired, an alpha named JT. He and Jackie had lunch with the man and his beta fiancee, Tally, and even Jackie agrees that it seems like he’s finally found a detective that will last, that he can trust. Jackie tells him about her attempts at growing little basil and oregano plants in the windowsill. She’s always had a black thumb, all of them know that, so he silently guesses the end of the story before she gets there.

Finally, Malcolm chimes in to admit that he won’t be much help there, not being particularly good with plants himself. It’s subtle, but he can tell both of them relax at the verbal confirmation that he will still be _theirs_. 

The conversation lasts another two hours. 


	4. Chapter 4

Malcolm slips out in the morning. It’s not terribly difficult, not with his mother still sleeping off her hangover in the master bedroom, but Ainsley catches him at the door and gives him her most stubborn look. “Fine.” He rolls his eyes. “I’m just going for breakfast anyway.” Well, he was planning on picking up breakfast for the Arroyos, too. He still will, he decides, because as much as Gil’s instincts must be screaming at him to provide, Malcolm’s are quite insistent that he care for them in turn, now that he’s back in their sphere. 

The problem is he can’t cook. A lifetime of chefs and a practically unlimited bank account will do that to someone. Getting waffles to go from the place Gil and Jackie always took him as a kid will have to do.

First he calls Adolpho. His mother already knows about the courtship, so he might as well use the family driver. 

Ainsley climbs into the seat next to him. “I want chocolate chip waffles.” She buckles herself in. “With _extra_ powdered sugar.” She crosses her arms when he looks at her, exasperated. 

Malcolm relents, like he always does with his baby sister. His second call is to the diner. He places an order for two chocolate chip waffles, a cinnamon for Jackie, and a plain for Gil. He makes sure to specify extra powdered sugar on one of the chocolates. “Happy?”

“Very,” Ainsley chirps. She’s quiet for the rest of the ride. Her silence isn’t bad, per se, and realistically, Malcolm knows she’s just waiting until they’re at the Arroyo residence to talk. For all that she’s the younger of them, his baby sister is an alpha, and he suspects she plans to take over what should be their father’s role in making sure his courters are good enough for him. She can’t make contracts for him or even stop him from going ahead with the bond, but she can get her two cents in.

He only hopes that when she approves — and he’s confident she will — she’ll help reassure their mother. 

\---------------

The text comes in before Gil rouses enough to start breakfast, thankfully. He squints at the screen and rubs the sleep from his eyes. 

Jackie, pulled from sleep when her ‘pillow’ moved, yawns. “Is it work?” She turns onto her side and props her head up with one arm. “Or our omega?”

_Our_ omega. He shifts at the bolt of heat he feels, his morning wood becoming more substantial. Soon enough, Malcolm would be a part of his mornings, too. Gil knows he uses restraints just as he has for years, but maybe they could still fit the omega between them. Curl around him even as he’s tied to the headboard. He swallows. 

Hearing Jackie giggle, he rolls over into her and works his face into the crook of her neck to smell the spicy tang of her own arousal. Her scent surrounds him there, her hair brushing against the other side of his face. He licks a stripe across her skin.

She shivers.

He smirks against her before pulling back. As much as he’d love to pull her apart this morning, they don’t have time. He kisses her pout away, loving the way she still melts into him like she did when they first started courting. “Malcolm’s on his way with breakfast.” Another kiss. “Ainsley’s with him.”

She perks up. “Waffles?”

Getting out of bed, he laughs as he pulls on boxers. “Yes, waffles. I’m sure he’s remembered your order.” Truthfully, he feels a pang of regret that he didn’t think of it first. He and Jackie took Malcolm there countless times over the years, to the point where it became a tradition to go every time he came back home, and now his inner alpha is mourning the loss of a perfect courting opportunity. It’s thankfully tempered by the sheer warmth he feels. 

Their omega is taking care of them.

Jackie flicks his ear. While he was in his head, she got dressed. “You’re going full alpha on me again, dear. Don’t forget Ainsley will be here, too. We don’t want to make a bad impression.”

\-------------

When she opens the door, Malcolm is first, standing there with four large takeout boxes in his arms. Jackie’s not sure if he realizes just how much he perks up around them. He does it now, too, his smile widening, his tense posture loosening up. She gives him a kiss on the cheek before letting him in. 

Next is Ainsley. Alpha or not, she’s still _so_ young. Ainsley holds out a hand instead of accepting a hug like she always used to. “Beta Arroyo,” she says in greeting, as if this is an official contract meeting.

Jackie fights down the giggles that threaten to rise. Malcolm’s little sister has a ways to go before she’ll really have an Alpha presence, and besides, Jackie will never be too affected by it, being a beta. “Alpha Whitly.”

They shake hands and then meet the two men in the kitchen. 

Gil’s already taken the boxes from Malcolm and set them on the table while the omega pulls out four plates, forks, and knives with an ease of familiarity. Although Jackie can’t smell any intertwined scents, she’s sure Gil’s gotten a peck, too. 

She holds back another giggle when she realizes that Malcolm is dividing up their plates in a _very_ specific way, placing his sister between the two of them. Ainsley won’t be able to intimidate her brother or Jackie herself. In effect, he’s neutralized her before the game has even begun. She always knew Malcolm was clever. 

Ainsley pouts when she sits down, likely understanding that she was played. 

Across the table, Gil suppresses a fond smile. 

\-----------------

He recognizes what Malcolm has done, and he’s both amused _and_ unsure. Amused, because Ainsley’s pout hasn’t changed much in the years since they’ve met, and unsure, because he’s going to have to sit through this unofficial interrogation sandwiched between the two people he loves. The urge to scent Malcolm thoroughly is ever present in the back of his mind. He wants to make sure that his omega’s alpha sister knows that they’ve already made their decision. 

Gil refrains. He’s not going to embarrass Malcolm _or_ Ainsley today if he can help it. 

A foot brushes against his own. It has to be Malcolm, based on where it’s coming from. It eases the urge a little. 

“Alpha Arroyo,” Ainsley says before any of them can get into their waffles. If she’s going to follow these high society rules, she should technically tilt her head in deference to him due to her age, but, as the unofficial acting alpha head of her family… she bends the rules a little. 

He allows it, forcing down a smile. “Alpha Whitly.” Gil cuts his waffle up into pieces and stripes them with syrup. He’s not going to wait until it goes cold, not even if the rules dictate they wait to eat until the terms are settled. 

Ainsley bites her lip and cuts a piece off her own, drenching it in syrup and leaning over her plate to eat it. Syrup drips down her chin. She wipes it with a napkin Jackie hands her, her cheeks reddening. “I understand you’ve already started courting my brother.”

“We’re on the cusp of bonding, Ains” Malcolm says, elbowing her as he takes a similarly drenched bite of waffle. He chews and swallows before continuing. “This isn’t necessary.”

Gil agrees it isn’t, but he’s willing to humor her. 

She elbows her brother right back. “As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted — you started courting my brother without approaching me. Or our mother.” She cuts off another chunk of waffle. 

“Sweetheart,” Jackie chimes in, dipping a slice of waffle into the pool of syrup on her plate, “I promise you, nothing about this courtship has been traditional. Last night was the first time we got the chance to really talk about it at all.”

And this is one of the many, many reasons Gil loves his wife. She’s good at _talking_ , at explaining things the way she knows the other person needs to hear it explained. They’ve had their fights, of course, but she was always the voice of reason that cooled it all down again.

They’re lucky it’s Ainsley here instead of Jessica. All the same, he knows Jackie can explain better than he can, at least now when his instincts are a mess, all tied up in the courting. Even now he feels his beta give him a soft kick to the shin as his mind starts to drift. 

Just in time for him to be under Ainsley’s scrutiny again. Her lips are pursed. Her brows are furrowed. She looks _ridiculous_ , and it warms his heart that she cares so much. “Is that true, Alpha Arroyo?”

“Yes,” he says easily. He trusts Jackie.

And like that, Ainsley’s tough alpha attempt melts to show the protective young sister she really is. “You’ll take care of Mal?”

Gil puts his fork down and meets her eyes. “Of course.”

“You’ll love him?”

“Ains,” Malcolm groans. 

But Gil answers anyway. Not just for Ainsley, but for Malcolm as well, knowing that Jackie is fully behind him on this. “We already do.”

Ainsley looks like she’s tearing up, just a little, and trying to hold it back. She sniffs. “Then you have my permission, Alpha Arroyo, Beta Arroyo.”

\-----------

After breakfast, Malcolm tries to call Adolpho to pick his sister back up. He wants time with Jackie and Gil, just the three of them, like the night before.

But Ainsley grabs his phone, darts into the living room, and sits on it. 

“ _Ains_ ,” he says, fully aware that there’s a bit of a whine in his voice.

“You can’t be alone with them,” she insists. Her arms are crossed, and she’s got her most stern face on. “Not until you bond.”

Malcolm groans. He knows that _she_ knows she doesn’t meet the requirements for a chaperone. She’s too young, for one, and she’s not responsible for the family yet, probably won’t be for a while. He also knows it doesn’t matter. 

She’s stubborn. 

Wrapping an arm around his shoulder, Jackie tugs him into a side hug. “We don’t mind, babe. It’s only a few weeks.” The spicy tang of her scent is soothing now, more sweet like the very center of a cinnamon roll. Spiced, but comforting. 

He leans into her. 

When Gil joins them, he sidles up on the beta’s other side. His arm is draped across her in such a way that his hand brushes against Malcolm’s head. He kisses Jackie’s temple and teases their omega’s hair before settling on the opposite end of the couch from Ainsley. “Why don’t you find something for us to watch, Ainsley?”

She perks up.

Together, Jackie and Malcolm squeeze in on the couch, too. It helps that Malcolm is still lean, that he and Ainsley take after their mother in that regard, though the four of them are cramped. Jackie practically lays on Gil, letting him tuck her into his side with the ease of years of bonded life. Malcolm is tempted to sandwich her in.

But Ainsley gives him her attempt at a stern look. 

Rolling his eyes, he sits close enough to the beta that their legs touch. The broad hand that reaches over to cover the nape of neck grounds him. It only occurs to Malcolm that he must be giving off a very contented scent when he hears his sister pretending to gag next to him. 

Someday, she’s going to bond, too. He’s going to _enjoy_ the payback.


	5. Chapter 5

The door shuts behind the Whitly siblings.

Jackie looks at her husband and huffs a laugh. “It’s _only_ two weeks.” She puts her arms around his neck and tugs him down for a kiss. Unsurprisingly, the kiss turns needy, her grip on him tightening as he pulls her close to him, sharing the faint taste of their omega’s lips, hidden under the sticky sweet hint of syrup. She’s sure it’s stronger to his senses. “We’ll survive,” she breathes out against him. 

He drops his head until their foreheads touch. “Two weeks of this,” he groans. It wasn’t _terrible_ , really. Ainsley’s been over to their house many times before, and they knew her almost as well as Malcolm, both from the omega’s words and seeing her grow up themselves. Now, however, she isn’t just his sister. She’s his family alpha. Gil could barely touch Malcolm without getting a glare. Jackie didn’t get it as badly. 

“Just fourteen days,” his wife says, poking his chest for emphasis. “Fourteen days of you two posturing at each other, and then…” Her fingers drift up to where her bite lays on him. Her mark isn’t as clean as an omega or alpha’s would be, but they made sure it was a lasting one. She traces the scarring. “Malcolm will officially be _ours_.”

With how tight his hold on her is, he’s sure she can feel the way his cock throbs in his slacks. 

She smirks. Her other hand shifts down from around his neck and finds the empty spot on the other side of his neck. The spot where _Malcolm’s_ mark will go. 

Gil shivers, his chest rumbling. He can almost imagine the desperate clench of the omega’s jaw, the way Malcolm will tremble in his arms as the bond clicks, the swell of his knot as he sinks his own teeth into pale skin. It was intense with Jackie. He knows it will be even more so with an omega.

“Our omega,” Jackie says. She tilts her head to expose unmarred skin. “How do you think his bite will look on me?”

_That_ is all he can take. He hoists her legs up around his hips and mashes their mouths together as she takes the opportunity to grind against his bulge. 

The route to their bedroom is a familiar one. They make it there without any hassle, Jackie swinging a hand out to clumsily flick the light on once he steps through the threshold. Gil turns as they approach the bed and tosses her.

She laughs as she bounces lightly on the mattress. “I bet he’d like being manhandled a little,” she says, propping herself up on her elbows and giving him a once over. “He has the classic omega build. I’m sure you’ve noticed, _Alpha_.”

God, Gil has. Malcolm’s small and lean, compact and flexible and probably _just_ light enough for him to haul to the bedroom like he had his beta. He yanks his sweater over his head, needing his clothes off _now_. 

“He’d fit right in with us,” Jackie continues. She slips a hand under her shirt to cup a breast through the lace of her bra and moans. “He’ll look beautiful between us.”

Gil curses as he struggles with his belt. “Jackie,” he says, strained, “if you don’t stop, this isn’t going to last long.” He’s practically popping a knot in his slacks, and although he knows she can adjust to fit him, her walls sinfully tight around him as he locks them together, it doesn’t mean she’ll be able to take it so _soon_. 

“Trust me, Gil, I’m more than wet enough.” Keeping her eyes on his, she takes her hand away from her breast to undo the button on her jeans. She slowly pulls the zipper down. Her fingers slip beneath matching lace, and her breath hitches. 

They’ve been together for years. Bonded for most of it, too, and he’s still just as affected as he was when he first gave her his bite. With a groan, he shoves his slacks and boxers down, kicking them off. Gil approaches the bed then. He grabs ahold of the cuffs of her jeans and, when she arches her hips off the bed for him, drags them off of her. 

Jackie wasn’t lying. Her panties are _drenched_ where her fingers shift under the lace. She’s unashamed, using her own juices to tease at her clit. “Are you going to stare at me all night? Or are you going to _knot_ me?”

He climbs on the bed and stalks forward on hands and knees into the growing V of her legs. “Be careful, Jackie,” he says, his voice low as his hands reach out to tug hers out from under the lace. But he doesn’t bother to pull them off. He just yanks the lace to the side, lines himself up, and sinks right in. “You might get what you wish for.”

She hooks a leg around his back. “C’mon, Alpha.”

Before she even finishes talking, Gil’s fucking into her, the base of his cock already thickening with his knot. She’s so aroused that each thrust makes a downright filthy noise.

“He’ll be beautiful,” Jackie says breathily, “taking your knot.” She squeals as he grabs ahold of her hips for better leverage. “He’ll _beg_ for it.”

It’s already swelling, popping in and out with just the slightest bit of resistance, the wet squelch of her pussy driving him crazy. “ _Jackie_.”

She’s clutching at the sheets. Her legs are trembling. “Do you think he’ll —” She stops to whine. “— he’ll eat me out while you fuck him?”

The image does him in. He can see it in his mind’s eye, Malcolm presenting for him, pushing back into his thrusts, his head buried between their beta’s thighs. Gil gives her a filthy kiss as they lock together. 

Her cunt _throbs_ around his knot.

Slowly, the kiss eases, turns into something more tender the longer they’re stuck, and when they finally separate, it’s to cuddle up together, sweaty and spent. 

\----------------

The last thing Malcolm wants to do is go home. (Well, not the last thing. That would be going to see his father, who would clock the identity of the alpha scent on him a mile away and be quite the opposite of _pleased_.) Regardless of how drunk she got the night before, there’s no way his mother isn’t awake now, no way she hasn’t noticed both of them missing. He leans his head on the window.

Beside him, he can feel Ainsley shifting. She raps on the window between them and Adolpho. When it rolls down, she unbuckles herself so that she can move in and whisper something that he can’t hear. The seatbelt clicks together as she leans back against the seat. “Cheer up, bro. Mom can wait a little longer.”

He turns just enough to give her a skeptical look, one eyebrow as high as it can be. “ _You_ get to explain why we’re so late.”

“Deal,” she chirps. 

It’s worrying, how cheerful she sounds, but part of it is rooted in how much she cares, so he settles and waits to see where they end up.

\-------------

“Ains,” Malcolm hisses. He doesn’t reach for his seatbelt, doesn’t touch the door. There’s no way he’s going in there. Especially not with his baby sister. 

She rolls her eyes and hits the button on his seatbelt for him. “Come on, you want to be ready for your heat, right?” Checking the road for passing cars, she slips out of the car, rounding it to open his door, too. “I doubt Mom will let you get out too easily to do this later. Live a little, Mal.”

He reluctantly steps out onto the curb. The boutique in front of them is a high end one, of course, but unlike the ones he knows their mother shops at, this one caters specifically to omegas. He’s been in similar ones before, during his previous attempts at dating. Going there with Jackie and Gil in mind… his cheeks flush. He flicks Ainsley in the ear when she laughs at him. “Why don’t you find another store to browse while I’m in there?”

“And miss this?” She cackles. “God no, bro. Let’s go get you something sexy for your beaus.” Linking their arms, she drags him to the door.

The first saleswoman to see them gives him a once over and smiles, likely noting the quality of his clothes, the way he holds himself. “Welcome. Are you looking for something specific today?”

“Nope,” Ainsley says before he can even open his mouth, the word popping from her lips. “My brother here is approaching the end of his courtship. I was thinking something lacey.” She steps on his foot to stop him from arguing. “Money is no issue.”

His eye twitches, but he gives the woman his best society smile. “Nothing too… showy, please.”

Not that the saleswoman listens. She takes her cues from his sister, who flashes their mother’s card with a smirk. It means she quickly builds an ever growing pile of garments ranging from nighties to panties to bralettes, all of them lacey. Some of them are blues — to bring out his eyes, apparently — while a few others are _white_. 

He mentally takes all of the white pieces out of the running. It may be his first bond, but he’s not going into it the picture of omegan virginity. His life isn’t a bodice ripper, for fuck’s sake. 

His sister, clearly enjoying his embarrassment, herds him into a changing room with the full stack. 

He immediately puts anything white, embellished, or see through off to the side, cheeks burning. With a small moment of hesitation, he also pulls out all of the nighties. _Maybe_ in the future. If his alpha and beta are into that. The panties, however… he holds up a blue pair, feeling the soft lace under his fingertips, contemplating the stormy shade. Could he really wear these for them? He used to have a few pairs with little bows on the sides, but he tossed all of those after his second brush with courtship. That alpha, the sweet girl she was, loved the idea of him in panties, though she never once mentioned bralettes. 

Slowly, he goes through the rest of the panties and picks out whatever appeals to him. He’s worn a few different styles before, so he knows what he likes, and what he likes is boyshorts. The feeling of the fabric curving across his ass, of being covered and yet _not_ , of his pants against the lower handful of his bare cheeks — all of it makes him shiver. Thinking about sliding his pants down to reveal them to _Gil and Jackie_ makes him put aside a good six pairs in the buy pile. 

But he’s still not sure about the bralettes. He pulls off his shirt. His chest is mostly bare with just a dusting of hair around his nipples to match the light trail down his boxer briefs. He works his way into the first bralette. It’s definitely there, but it’s not constricting, being a mostly decorative piece for a male omega like him. This one matches one of the panties he already decided on. It’s thin and lacey and just covers his pecs. He stares at himself in the mirror, turns, tries to imagine how his alpha and beta will see him. 

He has no idea if they’d even like it.

“Do they fit?” Ainsley calls out. Thankfully, she’s not asking him to come out.

Malcolm hesitantly puts a few into the buy pile and removes the one he’s wearing, replacing his shirt. It’s too difficult to do this with his sister and the saleswoman hovering outside. He’ll buy what he likes the look of now, and later, once he can get away from his mother’s disapproval and lock himself in his room, he’ll try all of it on, panties, too. He opens the door to the fitting room. “Yes. Let’s pay and get out of here, Ains.”

“Sure you don’t want a pair of heels to match?” she teases, but she drops it when he gives her a tired smile. 

“I already have a few,” he says, just to hear her sputter. He directs his attention to the saleswoman then, and expertly brushes off her attempts to upsell him without being rude. He’d much rather get round two of his mother’s argument done with.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of tension in this chapter, but it gets resolved for the most part! This fic will always be more fluff than not

Their mother is waiting for them as soon as they get home. She must have asked Adolpho to let her know when he dropped them off, because she opens the door before they can reach it. She doesn’t look impressed. “So, how are Gil and Jackie?” 

“Very respectful,” Ainsley says nonchalantly, not fidgeting in the slightest. “As the only available alpha in our family, I nominated myself to be Mal’s chaperone. I was with them the entire time.”

Their mother is unmoving. Her eyes narrow. “You know you’re not old enough, Ainsley.”

“Did you want _Dad_ to pick a chaperone to be his proxy?” she says crossly.

Malcolm winces next to her. He loves his sister, he really does, but he can see the way their mother’s jaw clenches at her words. “Stop it,” he pleads. “Let’s go inside. I’ll put my things away, and then we will sit down and talk like rational human beings.”

With a huff, his mother steps aside to let them pass. 

The lingerie he bought is dropped on his bed, bag and all. He almost resents its presence now. _Almost_. Later, he promises himself, if he feels up to it, he’ll try everything on. 

He buries his face in the crook of his elbow and takes a deep inhale, chasing the residual hints of Gil and Jackie on his clothes before heading downstairs to face her.

“...listen to me, young lady,” his mother bites out.

He can hear Ainsley scoff. “Why should I? _You’re_ not listening to _me_.”

“Ains,” he says firmly, eyes pleading with her to stop making it worse. He’s relieved to see some of the fight drain out of her. “Mother, why don’t you and I talk in the living room?”

Their mother nods sharply and turns.

He moves to follow her, but when his sister does, too, Malcolm stops. “ _Just_ Mother and I. I promise I’ll let you know how it goes.”

“But Mal —”

“ _Ains_.” Although he doesn’t like to be strict with her and usually isn’t, the side effect of his typical leniency is that she _will_ listen when he really puts his foot down. 

Most of the time. 

“You better,” she says mulishly.

\---------------

When he finally joins her, his mother is already drinking. He sighs, his heart sinking. “Mother,” he starts. 

She doesn’t look up at him.

“Mom,” he says, softer this time, and that’s what does it, that’s what turns her head. 

Now that he’s really looking, he can tell that she’s been crying. Her eyes are puffy under her makeup, and her mouth is set in more of a forlorn way rather than with the disappointment or anger he expected. “You’re going to go forward with this no matter what I say, aren’t you?”

Malcolm swallows. “Yes.” He will. It’s already difficult to wait two weeks to be with them, especially now that Ainsley has inserted herself into any of their meetings. He wants to be theirs too badly to give the chance up for anyone. 

But he also doesn’t want to lose his mother.

She knocks back the rest of her drink. “All I want for you and your sister is for you to not make the same mistakes I did.” Instead of pouring another, she sets her glass aside. “I thought your father was perfect. He was such a charming alpha… sweet and handsome and he didn’t care that I was a beta.”

There are so many things he wants to say. He wants to point out that that’s the way his father is wired, that he’s good at manipulation, that he needed her to see him that way. He needed her money and her reputation. All he says is, “None of it was your fault.”

His mother waves it off. “Malcolm, I’ve trusted Gil and Jackie with you for years. I — I thought Gil would stand in for your _father_ , not —”

“Court me,” he says softly. “I know, but he’s still the alpha you trusted. Jackie’s still the beta you trusted.”

She shakes her head. Her lips are pressed together in a firm line. “And that’s why I’ll step aside. One one condition. You _will_ be getting a pre-bond agreement. If this goes sideways, I will not have you suffering.”

A pre-bond agreement would be useless. Gil and Jackie aren’t going to treat him badly, and even if they all decide to break the bond, they wouldn’t demand a cent of his inheritance. Still, he can see how serious his mother is. “Call your lawyer tomorrow,” he says, conceding. He’ll do this for her, and he’s sure his alpha and beta will, too. Malcolm approaches her and gives her a quick kiss to the cheek. “Goodnight, Mother.”

\---------------

The shift of the bed and sudden absence of her husband’s warm body is what wakes Jackie that morning. She eases her eyes open and snuggles deeper into the covers, still toasty from their combined body heat. 

Sitting on the edge of the mattress, clad only in boxers, Gil has his cell up to his ear. The dopey look on his face answers the question of who’s on the other end of the line. 

She scoots over until she can wrap her arms around him, covering them both in their blanket as she molds herself up against him, her bare breasts against his back. “Morning, babe,” she says, just loud enough to be heard over the phone. Underneath her, Gil shivers. 

He puts the call on speakerphone. 

“Good morning,” Malcolm says. His voice is happy, yes, but there’s also an awkwardness there that makes her brows furrow. “I was hoping you two could come over for lunch.” A pause. “Mother wants you to sign a pre-bond agreement.”

Gil’s frown is evident, even if she can’t see his face. “We’ll be there, kid. Whatever it takes.”

“We’re not giving up on this,” she adds, feeling like it has to be said. Maybe it’s because she’s a beta like Jessica, but she can see where the woman is coming from. Jackie herself doesn’t fully understand the bond between omega and alpha. She knows the basics, of course. The reality of it is a different story. 

Besides, they never intended on taking over Malcolm’s money. Whatever Jessica throws at them will be easy enough to agree to.

Jackie kisses the alpha’s shoulder as he says goodbye to their omega. “We’ll sign it, Gil,” she says when the connection is cut. “He’ll be ours, don’t worry.”

\---------------

When the door opens, they aren’t greeted by Jessica. Or Malcolm. It’s Ainsley, who leans against the door jamb and tilts her head. “Don’t worry, Mom’s not on the warpath. _Yet_.” She gives them one more look over and then pushes off the door, turning to lead them to the living room. 

Gil wraps an arm around Jackie’s shoulders. He’s not sure how she’s so calm right now. He has the feeling Jessica would love to rip into them, _especially_ him, and he wouldn’t blame her. If his feelings for Malcolm started any earlier… he’d gladly let her. There’s no way to explain how he feels to her, not when he doesn’t wholly understand it himself. Somewhere along the line, the omega simply became _not_ family. An option.

The atmosphere in the living room is near unbearable. Ainsley flops onto the sofa next to her brother, clearly taking up the space he reserved for the two of them, if the exasperated look Malcolm shoots her is any indication.

Gil is fine with that today. Jessica’s glare is firmly fixed on him, steely and accusing. There’s an alpha man next to her, a man whose entire being screams lawyer, a folder in his lap. It’s no doubt full of the pre-bond agreement she had drawn up. The _only_ way this will go smoothly is if they don’t try to push any boundaries. Gil nods at her before pulling Jackie over to the other couch. “Good afternoon, Jessica.”

“Gil,” she says, her eyes narrowing. “Or should I call you _son?_ ”

“Mother,” Malcolm chastises. He sends them an apologetic grimace. 

The lawyer hands Jackie the folder. “This is a basic pre-bond agreement for someone of Mr. Whitly’s heritage. If you have any concerns, we can discuss them once you’ve read through it.”

“No. Actually, if you have any concerns, you won’t be bonding with my son,” Jessica corrects sharply. 

Before he can say a word, his wife puts a hand on his arm and holds it down with a firm grip. She meets the other beta’s eyes even as she keeps contact. “I doubt we will. I know you want what’s best for Malcolm. We do, too.” Jackie may not know how to use her scent, but she does know what it’s like to have to rely on less primal instincts. Her voice is calm and even as she cools the situation down before it can ignite. “Has he looked through the agreement?”

“I did,” Malcolm adds, short and abrupt. Gil can tell the omega is holding back what he _really_ wants to say about it, and he forces down a wry smile in response. “It’s standard.”

Jackie nods beside him. “We trust you.” She keeps her gaze on Jessica, who nods, her expression somewhat softer. “We’ll sign.” Taking the proffered pen from the lawyer, his wife flicks through the papers to find the tabs marked for initials and signatures, scrawling on the lines indicated for her before passing it along to him. Their hands brush during the exchange.

It’s enough to settle Gil a little. He’d prefer if Malcolm could sit with them for this, if they could have the slightest bit of contact, too. He settles for feeling the omega’s eyes on him as he adds his scribbles next to the beta’s. 

\-------------

Lunch is easier. The atmosphere is still stilted, horribly so, and Jackie can feel her husband’s restlessness in every brush of his arm against hers. Malcolm, sandwiched in between his mother and sister, looks flat out pained.

But the hardest part is over. The papers are signed. Jessica won’t stop Malcolm from bonding with them in just over a week from today. Jackie only hopes she’ll come around and be happy for him eventually, if only for Malcolm’s sake. It wasn’t too long ago now that he stopped seeing his father. He doesn’t need to lose another parent. 

They make polite small talk. They refrain from talking about how much they’re longing for the omega to join them. They smile and pretend no one’s aware of the tension, and, when the dishes are finally cleared, Jessica allows them a few moments alone with Malcolm. 

Almost immediately, Jackie finds herself squished up against the omega in Gil’s arms. She giggles. “Just couldn’t wait any longer, could you?”

He drags his nose out from Malcolm’s neck just long enough to flash her a sheepish grin. 

Malcolm melts into them. “I’ve smelled like you two less in the last few days than I did at university,” he grumbles, though it’s not as annoyed as it could be, his body devoid of the stiffness he carried during the meeting. 

“You won’t have to worry about that soon, babe.” Wiggling one arm between them in the hug, Jackie trails her wrist along the exposed skin above his collar. She bites her lip when his eyes slid shut. “Just a week and change left, okay?”

She can’t _wait_ to see how responsive he is during his heat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Next chapter is the beginning of Malcolm's heat...


	7. Chapter 7

Even with the papers signed, it doesn’t feel real. There’s a part of him that insists, _expects_ that Gil and Jackie will call it off before his heat, that his mother will change her mind. 

Not being able to spend any time alone with the couple makes it worse. He suffers through Ainsley’s teasing and rules every other day for visits, and a few times a week, his mother has Gil and Jackie over for an awkward dinner where they can barely touch. The looks the two give him — his frustrated, hers comforting — make it clear they’re ready for the courtship to be over, too. 

Evidently, his body is onboard, too. Malcolm wakes up feeling suspiciously warm three days before his heat is supposed to start. He kicked the blanket off the bed at some point in the night, but, thankfully, he hasn’t started sweating. He still has some time left. His heat is in the early stages, just starting to kindle, to get his body ready. 

Pulling himself out of bed, he hauls his heat bag out of the closet. He’s packed, unpacked, and repacked it many times over the last week. Inside is everything he absolutely needs for his first heat with the Arroyos — mostly items to build his nest with. Jackie called the morning after they signed the agreement to get a list of foods he typically eats during those times, because Gil was insisting on having it all ready at the house. She also asked if he needed anything else.

(“Just you two,” he answered honestly. “Anything that smells like you. Don’t wash your sheets the night before I come over.”)

Malcolm brushes his hair back and slings the duffle over his shoulder. Everything else in the room will be packed up by his mother’s staff to be delivered once his heat breaks. He looks it all over again. This room will probably always be his, knowing his mother, but it’ll never be quite the same again. After a moment’s hesitation, he kneels on the floor by the bed and pulls out the box of mementos of his father, carefully tucking it below his nesting materials. 

If the staff found it, he’s sure his mother would have it burned. 

~

Jackie has the day off. Her work comes with the same set amount of heat leave as the NYPD’s, but she had several vacation days saved up and took advantage of them to make sure everything was ready. The fridge and pantry were already bursting with Malcolm’s requests. As soon as Gil got out of bed that morning, she pulled the sheets off to wash, replacing them with the softest set they bought. Even the blanket was in a heap on the floor to be washed. They should have a good two nights to saturate it all with their scents. All that was left was preparing some simple meals that they could eat between waves. 

Gil wanted to help. She knew he did. The problem is that he’ll be working right up to the day that Malcolm’s heat starts. He can’t do much, not when he’s on duty all day. 

So she wanders in the kitchen and pulls out all of the ingredients she needs to make a sizable meatloaf. She and Gil tend to eat the leftovers cold on sandwich bread, so, if she slices it all up once it cools, all they’ll have to do is grab a slice and some bread for quick protein. 

The home phone rings as she washes her hands. Quickly drying them on a kitchen towel, Jackie hits the call button and wedges it between her shoulder and ear. “Hello?” She slides the casserole dish full of meatloaf into the oven. 

“Hey,” Malcolm says hastily. “Is Gil at home with you?”

“No, babe, he’s working until the big day.” She shifts the phone to her hand and brushes a stray lock of hair out of her face, worried. Something in his voice isn’t right. It’s panicked. She can’t think of anything that could have happened, not with the agreement signed and Jessica begrudgingly accepting. “What’s wrong?”

“My heat started early. I’m in the beginning stages.”

Jackie stills. Malcolm told them his heats were _very_ regular. They hinged everything on that, and if the anxiety she can practically feel over the phone is any indication, so did he. She takes a deep breath. “This is what we’re going to do,” she says softly but firmly. “You’ll come over here and get settled with me. Pack a bag of anything you need. Almost everything is ready here. I’ll call Gil and see if he can’t take off early, okay?”

“Thanks, Jackie,” he whispers. “I’m already on my way.”

“Good. I’m going to hang up, but call me as soon as Adolpho pulls up.” God, they are _not_ ready. She curses as she remembers the sheets in the wash. The blanket still smells like them, thankfully, but she doesn’t have enough time to scent the clean sheets properly, and her husband isn’t home to do so either. 

The rest of their laundry, however, is still waiting to be done. She pulls out a few shirts that don’t smell to her own nose and drops them on the bed. Next come all of the blankets and other nesting materials they bought for the occasion. Those she knows are scented already, too, so they go on the pile. 

The phone rings again.

“Are you here, babe?” she says breathlessly, staring at the heap of fabric on the bed.

“Yeah.”

When she opens the door, sure enough, the family car is parked outside. He opens the back passenger door, a duffle in hand, as soon as she starts for it. He gladly sinks into her arms. She runs a soothing hand along his back as he tucks his nose into her neck and clings to her. His skin is very warm. 

“Let’s get inside, okay?” Jackie waves at Adolpho as the driver lowers the window and watches them head into the house. Undoubtedly, Jessica asked him to make sure Malcolm made it in safely. Wrapping an arm around the omega’s shoulders, she guides him straight to the bedroom, where she eases the duffle off his shoulder. “Why don’t you start building your nest? I have something in the oven, but I’ll check in on you as often as I can.”

He nods, distracted by the blankets already. 

She turns his head for a quick kiss before darting back to the kitchen to check on the meatloaf.

\-----------------------

First, he just… flops onto the pile. It all smells like a wonderful mix of his alpha and beta. Cinnamon and licorice and comfort. He can practically feel the warmth building in his body as he takes it in. 

His heat is still just starting. There’s time to nest, to surround himself with the two of them and add his own scent into the mix, but only if he can pull himself together for a minute. He reluctantly shifts off the pile to sort through it. Most of it is blankets — very soft ones. The softest and biggest of the bunch goes on top of the mattress and at the base of his nest, where all three of them will curl up between waves. One by one, he forms the edges with the rest. 

The shirts he finds are stuffed near the head of the bed. Malcolm crawls into the nest, suddenly exhausted, and pulls the last blanket over himself. Now that he’s here and feels so utterly safe, he’ll drift off for a while before waking up as the first wave really begins. He should probably tell Jackie, but he doesn’t have the energy for it. 

\---------------

She pokes her head into the bedroom every few minutes. She watches Malcolm build his nest in stages, eventually falling into it to rest. She wants to help, to crawl into it with him, but the meatloaf is still in the oven. 

It doesn’t help that Gil can’t get off of work. He tried, even argued with his captain as every inch of him insisted on going home to the omega waiting for him. Whatever case he was working on was apparently too important, and with a beta at home capable of taking care of his omega in the meantime, the captain wouldn’t let him go right away. He couldn’t leave until he prepared his detectives to take over. Which could be hours.

Jackie may know the facts, she may know what Malcolm told them, what Gil expects, but that doesn’t make up for her lack of actual experience here. 

When the timer finally dings, she feels like crying in relief. The casserole pan is left on the stovetop to cool as she goes to the bedroom.

This time, Malcolm doesn’t look so peaceful in his nest. He’s kicked the blanket half off himself and, somewhere along the line, removed his shirt and pants. Evidently, his heat is _really_ starting now. 

She stops at the doorway and looks at him, their omega all curled up in their bed in just his boxer briefs. Gil should be here with her, here with _them_. Hesitating there, she finally goes back to the kitchen, where she left her phone. She takes a quick picture and sends it off to her husband. Then, kneeling by the bed, she pulls out the small chest of toys from under it. Most of them are new things they bought with heats in mind. Until Gil comes home, she has a feeling she’s going to need them. 

“Jackie?” Malcolm says quietly from his nest. His eyes are open and focused on her.

She brushes the hair out of his flushed face from where she still kneels on the floor. “Gil won’t be home for a while yet, but I’ll take care of you, babe.”

He bites his lip and nods. “Join me?”

She strips down to her underwear before climbing in beside him. He’ll benefit most from skin to skin contact right now. The nest is just as comfortable as she expected it would be, the blankets soft and warm against her mostly unclothed body, Malcolm even warmer. She plasters herself along his back and feels him melt into the embrace. “Is this enough?”

\------------

“For now,” he says, the heat in his body kicking up a degree now that he’s being touched. He’s never experienced this before. Usually, it’s just him and his toys and nest for days. It’s such a relief to feel her pressed up against him, her breasts on his back, one of her legs thrown over his. He craves the contact, but it also feeds the fire growing in him faster. He holds her hand and brings it up to his face. 

God, she smells so _good_.

He takes a slow breath.

_Spicy_.

He whines as she pulls away, belatedly realizing he was rocking his hips back, trying to get some friction where he needs it. “Jackie?”

“I’m just grabbing supplies,” she says soothingly. Whatever she grabbed makes a soft thud as it hits the side table. “I’m here.” Once again, she’s pressed up against him.

Malcolm shivers. He can’t help but rock back into her. “It usually doesn’t come on this fast.” 

She kisses his neck, right over where she’ll bite later, when she and Gil can bond him at the same time. For now, she trails a hand down to the front of his briefs and lingers there questioningly. 

“ _Please_ ,” he breathes out. His cock is already aching. He’s starting to really feel wet, too, _empty_ , and he hopes that Jackie won’t be opposed to fucking him with her fingers at some point soon. 

Even that won’t be enough in an hour or so. 

Her fingers skim along his waistband before dipping underneath the elastic. She eases the fabric over his weeping cock and balls until it’s caught there. 

The light contact has his hips snapping forward, chasing the touch. “Please,” he says again.

“I know, babe,” she murmurs as she finally wraps a hand around him. 

He gasps. 

He’s leaking so much precome that she doesn’t need any lube, just spreads it down his length and rides the rocking of his body, throwing a good twist or jerk every now and then. Then her mouth latches onto his shoulder, and she _scrapes_ her teeth across heated skin.

His orgasm hits him with a sob, his hole clenching around nothing, his come spilling over her fingers. He trembles as she strokes him through it. “ _Jackie_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, it was _so_ hard to keep it a secret, but I've had it planned that Gil would still be working LONG before I started writing! He won't miss the heat, promise ;) But Jackie gets to take care of Malcolm for a little while first


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a bit later in the day than I wanted to post, but here it is! I hope you enjoy it ;)

Logically, she knew he would still be achingly hard afterwards. She knew he would need a knot, synthetic or otherwise, to get a reprieve.

Knowing didn’t prepare her for the way his cock twitches in her hand as if it isn’t covered in fresh come, as if he isn’t still trembling against her from his first orgasm. She kisses his shoulder, the skin there red from her teeth. “I’m going to put the harness on, okay babe? Can you take off your boxers for me?”

He looks back at her and nods, biting his lip. His face is flushed, hair in disarray but eyes focused. 

On _her_.

It’s Jackie’s turn to shiver. She reluctantly gets out of the nest and snags the harness off the side table. She already fit one of the knotting dildos into it earlier, this one an inflatable model with a pump that will let her fuck him with the full length of it _before_ tying. The leather is nice and snug around her hips, the metal ring holding the dildo in place flush against the cotton of her underwear, the straps curving down and around her ass. As soon as she has it secured in place, she looks back to the nest. 

Malcolm has rolled over to face her and twisted his arm around his back. Although she can’t _quite_ see what he’s doing, it’s not a mystery. Every slight twitch of his hips, the soft, slick, repetitive sound behind him, the way his cheeks burn red as he pants… he couldn’t wait for her.

Crawling back into the nest, Jackie gives him a filthy kiss, swallowing his moan. She guides his arm back around. His fingers are coated in his slick, and, after a short pause, she pulls his hand up to her mouth and cleans them. 

As soon as she’s done, he’s rolling back over on his own. “Fuck,” he breathes out, meeting her eyes over his shoulder, his pleading. 

She breaks the contact to take him in. There’s a slight trail of slick from where his fingers brushed against his ass when she pulled them away. Shuffling closer, she spreads his cheeks, savoring the groan he makes, and gets her first look at his wet hole. He’s still only in the first wave, but he’s _so_ slick. The first few should be lighter than the middle of his heat followed by a tapering off. Now, however, she can’t even imagine how much he’ll be dripping for them by the midpoint. 

She swallows. “Present for me, babe.”

He does, eagerly. It’s a classic presenting pose — on all fours, ready to be fucked, ready to be bred. 

She spares a moment, just one, for her husband, who will undoubtedly lose it the second he sees this for himself. 

“If you don’t get in me soon, I’m going to have to fuck my fingers again.” He says it almost like a joke, but the undercurrent in his words is raw and serious. His arms are trembling with the pressure of keeping himself upright as the need courses through him.

She slaps his ass to get his attention— lightly, of course, just hard enough for him to feel it. His toes curl as he gasps. They can explore different amounts of force when he’s not in heat. “You’re not on your own now,” she says, voice soft. “Let me take care of you, Malcolm.” Gripping the length of the dildo, she moves in closer and presses the blunt tip of it to his hole. 

He rocks back into it.

She grips his hips and controls the pace until she bottoms out, the straps of her harness brushing against his ass. 

\---------------

There’s nothing terribly special about the toy itself. He’s had similar ones before, even brought a few with him in his duffle. All he’s ever felt was silicone, glass, etc., and so it _shouldn’t_ be such a new experience. 

His head falls down to the bed, framed by his arms, as they both get used to the sensation of her buried in him to the harness. Somehow, he grossly underestimated the difference in fucking himself with a variety of toys through his heat and having _Jackie_ do it for him. Her hands are firmly on his hips. Her pelvis is pushed up against his ass. Her _cock_ is inside him.

She shifts minutely, drawing a small moan from him. “Does that mean I’m okay to move?” she says, amused. 

He laughs breathlessly. “Yeah. Fuck, please move.” It feels so nice, he feels so stuffed, but the urge to fuck himself back on her is growing with every moment they stay still. 

The beginning is a little rocky. She moves her hips awkwardly for a minute or two, not quite sure what angle or pace to go with. Jackie’s a quick learner, though, and soon enough she’s snapping into him, bottoming out on every stroke. She’s attentive, too. It’s obvious that the sounds he makes are guiding her. 

Malcolm wordlessly urges her to fuck him faster, harder, until his moans are short, involuntary _unh, unh, unhs_ , his hands twisting in the soft blankets underneath him. 

“You like that, babe?” Her voice is labored. Her hips don’t stop.

He keens in response. “Knot me,” he demands, half delirious with it all. He hasn’t even touched himself once, but he’s already on edge. Usually, he needs a bit of both in the beginning of his heat. Now he’s going to come from her cock. “ _Please_ , Jackie.”

There’s a soft noise behind him, not from her but the toy itself. Suddenly, it’s swelling. It’s not all at once. It’s incremental. Little bursts that let him know she’s manually pumping it up, teasing him as he shoves himself back onto her, chasing his orgasm, her knot. In the back of his mind, he recognizes that he’s talking, begging. A steady stream of _Jackie, beta, please_ escapes him over and over again. 

Finally, there’s resistance. He cries out as the growing knot tugs on his hole before popping out. She works him like that for a few thrusts, not letting her cock swell until she’s satisfied with how much of a blubbering mess he is. Then, and only then, she slams into him and works the knot up to its full thickness.

His orgasm hits him hard. Collapsing forward, her hands the only thing holding his lower half up, he streaks the nest white, his hole trying to milk her dry. 

\-----------------

She can’t feel him, not the way Gil will be able to. Still, she _can_ feel the way his body tries to take more of her in even though he’s already full of her knot, the way his hole clenches and tugs at the dildo through the harness. She feels the trembling in his legs and hips as it runs through him. 

She waits until it eases. “I’m going to roll us over.” Wrapping an arm around his waist, she carefully maneuvers them into a lying position. 

His hand finds hers on his stomach. Their legs mingle. “We should have a half an hour,” he murmurs, orgasm drunk. 

“Okay. Are you comfortable?” She certainly doesn’t mind being pressed up against him again, his heated skin keeping her warm. She kisses his shoulder just to feel his entire body shiver. 

“Mmhm.” He holds her hand where it is.

It doesn’t surprise her. She knows he’ll be very tactile during these periods of downtime. She knows he’ll crave their touch, their scents, their comfort. Hopefully, both the knotting and the contact will settle him enough that she can get some food in him before the itch gets too strong. 

\-----------

As soon as the blissful satisfaction begins to fade, Malcolm lets her know. He doesn’t _want_ to separate, but they have a limited amount of time before he’ll need more, and with how early his heat came, he’s not sure if the reprieves will be shorter than usual, too. 

She gently pulls her hand away from his and releases the pressure in the toy.

He bites his lip as the knot goes down, as she removes her cock. He already feels so empty. It’s not the ache it will be later, and yet, it’s rough. He can’t help but miss the weight of her body against his back, too. Burying his nose in the nest, in their scents, makes it a little better. 

“I’ll be right back, babe,” she promises.

He nods into the blankets. He trusts her.

When she does come back, still nude other than the harness, it’s with a small tupperware container. 

His eyes drift down to the jut of her silicone cock. The sight doesn’t help how much he _needs_. He licks his lips. Shaking his head, pushing it down, Malcolm shifts until he’s sitting crosslegged in the nest. He can feel the way his hair flops, loose and mussed from laying in bed. “What is it?”

Jackie puts the container on the bed and crawls in next to him. “Cheese cubes. I have a feeling you didn’t eat before you came over this morning,” she says fondly, snorting when he ducks his head. “You should have a little protein.”

Saying he’s not hungry won’t change her mind. He is hungry, for food even, but the urge to straddle her and fuck himself until she decides he deserves her knot is already becoming overwhelming. They could spend the thirty minutes after like that, her against the headboard, him in her lap. It would allow him to nuzzle her neck. Explore the space where his mark is meant to go. Trace the shape of Gil’s with his tongue.

Light pressure against his lips knocks him out of his musing. He almost goes crosseyed trying to focus. It’s a cube of cheese. Glancing up into her eyes, Malcolm opens his mouth and curls his tongue around her fingers, between the tips of short, manicured nails to pry the block of cheddar away from them. He caresses her fingers once more before pulling back and chewing on the morsel. As much as he wants her to stuff his hole again, the urge to let her fuck his throat is up there now. Or, better yet, ditch the harness and lock his head between her thighs. He groans.

Jackie smirks. “Later, babe. Let’s get you knotted first.”

\-------------

The second round is quicker than the first. She knows what she’s doing now and, more specifically, what _Malcolm_ likes, needs. They’ll do more experimenting after her husband joins them, once they have another body to soothe his heat and make sure he’s taken care of between spikes. She’s already kicking herself for not thinking to bring snacks in _before_ the first wave. At least the cheese is already in the bedroom, placed on the side table, ready to be eaten while they wait for the second knotting to stop being effective. 

Her phone rings. They’ve just settled on their sides, Malcolm loose and sated again, connected to her yet. She reaches back and pats the table to find it. 

_Gil_ flashes across the screen.

“Are they letting you leave now?” she says immediately. 

Malcolm turns his head. 

“I’ll be in the Le Mans any minute.” There’s a shuffling noise, probably him gathering his things or putting his coat on. His voice is strained. She can’t even imagine how difficult it was to work knowing their omega was writhing around in their bed. “How’s the kid?”

Leaning forward, Jackie kisses the line of his jaw. “Very good. We’re waiting for the second knot to go down now.”

“Gil,” Malcolm says, sounding just as fucked out as he looks.

Over the line, the alpha makes a throaty sound. “I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

She puts her cell back on the table and snuggles back into the nest, into the omega. They lay there for some time.

“Jackie?” Malcolm shifts. 

“Mmhm?”

“Can you deflate the knot?” His voice is hesitant.

She immediately does and pulls out. “Are you okay?”

Rolling over to face her, the omega smirks lazily. “Very.” The expression drops into something more shy. He clears his throat. “Can you go in my duffle?”

She props herself up on one arm. “What am I looking for?”

“I think you’ll know when you find it,” he says evasively.

His duffle is on the floor by the bedroom door. She opens it, putting the shoebox on top aside, and stalls with a laugh. “Our poor alpha.” Shaking her head, she holds up a pair of soft lace boyshorts. There are several pairs tucked in the bag, but these stuck out to her immediately, being a shade of blue comparable to his eyes. “He’s going to take one look at you and tip right over into rut.”

He takes the pair from her once she gets back to the nest. She watches as he squirms into them, the lace quickly becoming damp with slick and precome. They’re nice and snug, hints of skin showing through the gaps in the fabric, the outline of his hard dick clearly visible. 

She takes the harness off finally and snuggles into him, both of them only in their underwear. 


	9. Chapter 9

His only consolation is that JT is practically a friend. The detective is aware of his courtship and is the first to know when he gets the call, the two of them pouring over leads in his office. He’s a pretty levelheaded alpha, thankfully. There are points during the day where Gil is convinced JT is the only reason he hasn’t stormed their boss’ office or flat out left the precinct. 

Because he’s _desperate_.

His cell burns a hole in his pocket. Focus, he tells himself every time the urge to pull it out rises. All he can think about is the picture Jackie sent. About Malcolm flushed, sprawled out in his nest. In _their_ bed. It nearly sends him into rut right there in the precinct, though Gil is old enough to have a steadier handle on himself than that. He knows he’ll tip into it as soon as he gets home, as soon as the temptation is right there in front of him, as soon as he sees beta and omega together, waiting.

JT reminds him that they’re almost done. Just a few more details. With the other alpha prepped and ready to take the helm, Gil will be free to go join them. It’s not that simple, of course, but JT has a way of explaining it without making his already frayed nerves snap. He doesn’t begrudge Gil his short lapses or the way his hand gravitates to his pocket every few minutes. 

“Get out of here,” JT says eventually. “I’m caught up.”

Gil doesn’t need any encouragement. Walking out of the precinct as briskly as he can without turning too many heads, he whips out his cell and hits his wife’s contact without looking. 

She doesn’t bother waiting for him to talk. “Are they letting you leave now?” Her voice is breathy, and he bites his cheek imagining just why.

“I’ll be in the Le Mans any minute,” he says, struggling to get his coat on. He didn’t even bother with it before leaving, and it’s only a reflex that he slips it on now. _God_ , Jackie’s voice alone is hitting him hard. Thoughts of Malcolm are going to kill him. “How’s the kid?”

“Very good.” She sounds so satisfied. It takes him a moment to get the key in the ignition without jamming it in. “We’re waiting for the second knot to go down now.”

Gil swallows a curse. His mind is already conjuring the image up. The two of them are sweat slick in the nest. Jackie sucks a small bruise on the omega’s neck, their bodies connected.

And then Malcolm finally cuts in, just to call out for their alpha, his voice _wrecked_ from the second knot.

Gil can’t hold back the sound that rumbles up through his chest. There’s no chance of him not falling into rut as soon as he’s in the house. “I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

~

He closes the door behind him quickly, locking it again to settle his instincts. It would have been much better had he been home when Malcolm went into heat, but at least he can be comforted by the statistics. Most alphas wouldn’t enter a heat nest once they smell another alpha there. They’d more likely be ripped apart than win over the omega inside. 

Gil leans back against the door, legs buckling. All he can smell is Malcolm — his slick, his release, his _want_ tinged with Jackie’s arousal. The scent of unbonded omega hits hard enough, but coupled with the notes of his beta, his rut comes on before he can even see the two of them. He moves to the bedroom on instinct. It’s the best place for a nest. He doesn’t even notice the rumbling in his chest as the smell gets stronger the closer he gets. 

There, in his — _their_ — bed, Malcolm is pressed up against Jackie, his hips rocking, whines escaping his lips. Jackie has one arm slung across him, her entire hand hidden by blue lace. By the movement there, she’s fucking him with her fingers. 

Gil groans. The _lace_. He’s not sure if he wants to rip it off or pull it to the side, slide in while he’s still wearing it. It’s damp where the beta’s hand is, obviously drenched in slick. _Second knot_ , Jackie said earlier. His omega is already open and ready to be knotted, to be bred. He can feel his knot swelling a fraction. The first breeding won’t last long, but he’s not worried about that. Rut means he’ll have plenty of opportunities to make sure Malcolm is well and truly bred.

(He ignores the logical side of him that remembers the omega might be on birth control, that he never got around to telling them his decision before his heat started early.) 

“Alpha,” Malcolm begs, head tilted up off the bed, eyes locked on Gil. His eyes are clear. He knows what he wants, what he’s asking for.

Beside him, Jackie looks, too, a smirk on her face. Her fingers are still moving. “The quicker you get over here, the sooner he’s officially ours.”

Gil doesn’t have to be told twice. He kneels on the bed, watching as his beta helps their omega shift and present. When Jackie brings her slick hand up to her mouth and licks her fingers clean, he growls and tugs her close to finish the job for her. _Fuck_ , Malcolm tastes sweet, salty, _needy_. He grips the omega’s hip with one hand, the other arm still holding Jackie close. He kisses her, steals more of Malcolm from the heat of her mouth. His hips are flush against Malcolm’s, and he grinds against him, his slacks against drenched lace, the slick leaving a mark around the zipper. 

“Don’t tease me, Gil,” the omega breathes out. “I need a knot. _Please_.”

Eyes sliding shut, Gil breaks the kiss with Jackie and groans again. He opens them in time to see her give him a wicked look as she shuffles over to sit against the headboard next to Malcolm’s head. In this position, he can see that her underwear is damp, too. She winks, tracing circles over where her clit is. Gil yanks his zipper down and pulls himself out. 

Malcolm shifts onto one elbow, reaching the other back to grab at the crotch of his boyshorts, holding the lace to the side and revealing his hole. 

Unable to slow down now, Gil grips himself and sinks right in. It’s not smooth. His hips twitch, the length of his cock brushing against Malcolm’s knuckles. Once he’s in to the beginning of the small swell of his growing knot, he removes his hand from his cock to get a better grip on the omega. A quick snap, and it pops in.

It isn’t much, not yet. Certainly not the most he’s taken already if Jackie’s knotted him twice, but Malcolm _keens_ , his arm swinging back to the bed for more stability. 

Gil grits his teeth as he gets used to the tight heat, the knowledge that this is his, _their_ omega. 

“It feels good, doesn’t it?” Jackie says. She’s slipped her hand into her own underwear now, idly stroking herself.

Gil’s not entirely sure which one of them she’s talking to until Malcolm gasps out a _yes, fuck_. He can’t take it any longer, can’t hold back, and so he doesn’t bother, fucking into him with short snaps of his hips that have his knot popping in and out rapid fire. Malcolm’s tight but accommodating. His hole swallows Gil every time, stretching around the swell of him with each thrust in, clinging on each thrust out. He’s hot, too, all soft, slick heat inside. The smell of his arousal grows, this time mingling with Gil’s own scent. With another growl, the alpha picks up the pace. 

“Yes,” Malcolm cries out underneath him. The give and take is becoming harder. Gil’s knot jolts his body with every snap, nearly at the point where he won’t be able to pull out again. “Come on, Alpha, knot me.”

There’s very little Gil wouldn’t give him if he asked. This is no exception. He fucks into him for a few more thrusts before burying his cock in to the root, his hands digging into Malcolm’s hips as they finally lock together. He can feel when he comes. The way his body grips his knot, holds him in tight and milks him, ripping a grunt out of Gil. 

“Bite me,” the omega demands, words beginning to slur. “Both of you.”

Easing her hand out of her underwear, Jackie offers them to Malcolm, who gladly cleans them for her. “If you two lay down on your sides, we can bite him at the same time,” she says, glancing at her husband, the corners of her mouth curled up. 

Malcolm lets go of her fingers. “Please.”

Gil takes lead. He carefully maneuvers the two of them so as not to pull at their connection too early. Malcolm is pliant in his hands, willing to do as Gil guides him to do. The lace boyshorts he still wears are a mess of come in the front, and the wet material clings to his softening dick in a way that can’t be terribly comfortable, but, heatstricken and knot dazed, it’s clear the omega isn’t bothered by it at the moment. When Gil gets them both on their sides, he closes his eyes and takes a breath. His own orgasm is still not over. His knot will undoubtedly take over a half an hour to go down this time, with his rut finally syncing up with a heat, and the bonding won’t help.

The night he and Jackie bonded, it took at least forty minutes. Even with her being a beta. 

He has no idea what seeing Malcolm and Jackie bond will do to him, either. 

Speaking of, his wife slips out of her underwear and curls up in front of their omega. “Hey babe,” she says, leaning in for a kiss, brushing sweaty locks of hair out of his face. “You ready?” Her fingertips are a whisper across his neck.

“I’ve been ready for weeks,” Malcolm says honestly. 

Gil angles him up off his side a little and works his own face into the crease of his neck, inhaling the mix of all three of them already settling on his skin. He feels the bed shift as Jackie leans over and finds space on the other side of Malcolm’s head. She’ll need as much leverage as she can get to leave a lasting mark with her blunter teeth, but he’s confident she can manage it a second time.

Malcolm swallows. “Do it.”

They do. Gil can feel the bond snap into place immediately, and he grinds into Malcolm, his knot throbbing even more as the omega becomes his, theirs. He lets go, soothes the raw bite with his tongue and places a closed mouth kiss there. Like he expected, Jackie’s bite graces the other side of his neck. It’s rougher, yes, the lines of it less clean, but his chest rumbles pleasantly at the sight. _Theirs_.

Now all that’s left is for Malcolm to bite both of them in return, for both of them to officially become his, because if Gil was happy to wear Jackie’s mark, he sure as hell wants Malcolm’s, too. It’s not strictly necessary for the bond, that’s already settled, but they’ll do it. As soon as this wave is over. 

Gil drapes himself over Malcolm’s back and watches as the omega trails a hand between Jackie’s slick thighs to finish her off. The way she trembles, legs jerking whenever his fingers make direct contact with her clit, the little noises she makes — it’s all familiar and gorgeous, especially with Malcolm bringing her there. He groans when she tips over, trapping the omega’s hand between her thighs.

She gives Malcolm a slow kiss before curling up closer.


	10. Chapter 10

It takes seemingly forever for his knot to go down. He spends the indeterminable time pressed up against Malcolm’s back, his nose tucked up next to the fresh indent of his teeth. The omega’s contentment touches him through the bond. It makes his chest rumble, knowing that he and Jackie are the cause of it, which in turn makes his wife snicker. That only makes him purr louder, longer.

Malcolm is a puddle between them. He’s purring, too, a soft omegan sign of happiness. He clenches around Gil’s knot every now and then, and the rhythmic pressure draws a groan out of the alpha each time. 

It’s during one of those groans that their beta slips off the bed.

“Jackie?” Gil murmurs, disgruntled.

She waves him off as she slides her cotton underwear off her hips. “I’m starting a shower. You two shouldn’t be connected much longer, and Malcolm might want a quick clean between waves.”

Said omega stretches his legs and hums. “Please.”

Gil ignores the childish edge to the way he pulls Malcolm closer, the corners of his mouth curving down. His more logical side is aware that cum-soaked lace can’t be comfortable, not really, but the side of him closer to the surface would prefer to wrap all three of them up in the nest and stay there until their omega’s pheromones soften. Maybe even shift, if he’s being truly honest. He shuts his eyes and reminds himself that they still haven’t talked about birth control. There’s absolutely no guarantee they’ll be adding to their pack anytime soon. 

Malcolm tugs his arm tighter across his chest. “Stop thinking, Gil.”

He tries. 

In the other room, there’s a rush of water as the tub turns on. 

Closing his eyes, Gil lets himself sink into the little things. The nest reeks of the three of them together, and even Malcolm himself is coated in their scents. He swipes his tongue across his bite, feeling how the omega shivers. He can hear Jackie moving around, too. She’s probably testing the water temperature. Maybe she’s pulling out towels… likely not a fresh pair of clothes. Now that he’s in rut to match Malcolm’s heat, none of them will be wearing clothes until they run their course. Not even Jackie. He doubts either he or Malcolm will be able to let her out of their sight for much longer than she needs to grab premade meals for them, and still, Gil guesses they’ll all move out to the kitchen a few times out of necessity. It’s his turn to shiver. The house will need a good cleaning after this. 

Malcolm shifts in his arms as the knot starts to go down. Although he’s not trying to get away, it’s clear that he’s beginning to feel uncomfortable with the mess he’s in. 

With reluctant sigh, Gil pulls out. He can’t help but look down at the omega’s puffy hole. He gently holds his cheeks apart and groans at the sight of his spend leaking out all over the lace. With two thick fingers, the alpha pushes some of it back in, ripping a whine out of his partner. He swallows. He knows they should clean up. It takes all of his willpower not to fuck into him again right away. 

“Water’s warm,” Jackie says from the doorway to the bathroom. 

Gil staggers to his feet. He only wanders in after she waves him off again, going over to their omega on her own. The water is pleasantly warm. A hot shower sounds like it would be good right now, but experience tells him that his senses are dialled up too high for one during his rut, and the same is likely true for Malcolm. A warm shower will feel hot enough. He quickly washes his hair and gives his body a furious scrub while he waits for them to join him. His instincts are screaming at him to take care of the two of them. One surefire way to sate that urge during his ruts has always been to wash Jackie. He gnaws on the inside of his cheek as he thinks about working the suds through Malcolm’s hair. 

There’s a soft sound as the beta and omega enter the bathroom. The lace panties are gone, leaving Malcolm’s cock half hard and covered in his own come. He yawns lightly and pulls a hand away from Jackie to shield his mouth. She whispers something in his ear.

Gil strains his hearing, but the words are too soft. He can, however, see the flush that spreads across Malcolm’s cheekbones. 

~

Heat singes his cheeks, not so much from the words themselves. No, he’s picturing it and _wanting_ , and from the look on her face, he knows she knows it. On a whim, he leans in and nudges her into a soft kiss. He licks at the seam of her lips but doesn’t push. 

She pouts when he pulls away, and Malcolm feels a rush at the knowledge that she desires _him_ , too.

Purring lightly, still as delighted by the sensation as he is unaccustomed, the omega steps into the spray with their alpha. He lets Gil turn him around. His eyes slip shut as a soapy washcloth rubs gentle circles over his chest and dips down to his groin. Gil is careful not to scrub hard. He just cleans Malcolm’s front off and takes a step back to wipe the rest of the leaking come away until the omega feels clean again. It’s a conflicting feeling. _Soon_ , he reminds himself. Soon he’ll be full again.

Jackie steps in, too. Malcolm drifts towards her unerringly, taking in the cinnamon that wafts off of her in the warm water. It’s stronger here, spicier. 

A wide hand gently tilts his head back. Thick fingers scratch at his scalp in all the right places, working shampoo into a lather. 

“Gil,” he moans. He keeps his eyes closed until he feels the comforting rush of water through his hair. When he opens them, he’s greeted with the sight of Jackie casually soaping up her breasts, her stomach. 

And then the alpha behind him kisses his neck over his bondmark. There’s a wave of licorice now. 

Malcolm’s legs feel weak. He thought a real breeding would give him more time between waves, but, if anything, he’s _more_ desperate. He needs to sink his teeth into them, to mark them the way they’ve both marked him. Without thinking, he wraps an arm back and around Gil’s head, holding him there. “I need you two,” he whines. 

Jackie’s leisurely wash becomes a harried rinse. She gives her neck a good quick scrub, too, before stepping closer to him with a smile. “Hey babe.”

He breathes out her name. It tapers off as she tilts her head to show him the unmarred side of her neck. His dual marks throb. 

“Go ahead,” she says.

Malcolm dips his head, smells the cinnamon right off of her damp skin. His eyes shut as his jaw opens. He latches onto the smooth curve and _bites_. She and Gil sandwich him as the bond deepens a touch. He pushes back against the alpha’s hard dick. Ever so carefully, the omega lets go of her, his tongue lapping up the blood that wells out of the impression of his teeth. 

She looks at him through lidded eyes and smirks. Then she glances over his shoulder. “Dear?”

Silently, Gil steps out of the shower and pulls a towel off of the stack, scrubbing at his body with haste. Once he’s sufficiently dry, he picks up the next one and holds it up.

Jackie gently pushes Malcolm towards him. The omega grumbles slightly but goes, allowing himself to be dried off, taken care of by his alpha. Even the towels smell like the Arroyos. He sinks into it. 

Behind him, he can hear the beta getting out and drying herself off. There’s a rattle as she opens the cabinet. When he looks over, she’s cleaning the wound with a careful hand. Mating bites usually heal fine on alphas and omegas. On a beta, it’s not as simple. 

Malcolm trusts she knows what to do from her first bond. He glances up at Gil next. They haven’t completed their bond yet, not completely. 

“Not yet,” the alpha says, looking at him hungrily. He can probably smell how eager Malcolm is becoming. 

How slick he is already.

Together, the three of them make it back to the nest. 

The omega in particular sinks into it with a pleased noise. While the shower made him feel much better, there’s nothing like being surrounded by their combined scents again.

~

Her neck aches. It’s a satisfying ache, especially now that she better understands the implications of it. Back when she and Gil bonded, there weren’t as many easily accessible resources on betas taking mating bites, and she remembers the initial agony of taking Gil’s. It was the first time they shared his rut. Although exhausting, the experience wasn’t at all _bad_. She just didn’t understand what was going to happen, not really, and Gil didn’t know how her body would react either. His teeth were sharper than hers. He tried to be gentle, but it still hurt. The following several hours were spent with him curled around her, desperate to ease her pain.

This time, Jackie was prepared for the sink of Malcolm’s teeth. She touches the wound as she leans back against the headboard. Her other hand rests in the omega’s towelled hair, his head resting on her hip, his breath skating across her trimmed bush. He’s still calm. For now. Soon enough, he’ll be squirming back against Gil. The downtime between waves was short-lived when it was just the two of them. Now, she can see the urgency in the way he moves and reacts.

She stifles the urge to shift her hips, remembering what he said to her as she helped him out of the lace. She’s already getting wet again just thinking about it. Maybe betas _can_ be affected by heat pheromones.

Across the bed, their alpha reluctantly gets off the bed. He doesn’t bother pulling on any clothes, likely more aware than she is of how close the next wave is. His eyes linger on Malcolm. He turns his attention to her with a soft smile. “I’m going to get some finger foods and water from the fridge while you’re tied down. Want anything?”

She chuckles and shakes her head. “I’ll eat whatever you bring back.”

“Fruit,” Malcolm murmurs against her skin.

Gil trails a hand across his ankle as he walks around the bed. 

“How’re you feeling, babe?” 

The omega twists his head and looks up at her. “Hungry,” he says sheepishly. “Horny.”

“Do you think you’ll be able to eat some first?” It won’t surprise her at all if they have to feed him while he’s knotted at least once during his heat. After all, she’s had to feed Gil snacks that way during his ruts in the past. Biology is a silly thing sometimes. Alphas and omegas need to eat during their ruts and heats, but it’s fairly typical for them to come out of them slightly dehydrated and underfed. 

Malcolm hums. “I think so.” 

~

Gil makes a mental note to thank Jackie profusely. Even with Malcolm’s heat coming on early, she still managed to prepare a decent amount of food for all of them, including some pre-sliced fruit. He doubts he’d have the patience to cut anything right now. Not with their omega already smelling more and more like arousal with every passing moment. He grabs a container of watermelon and a bag of mixed nuts for protein. Three water bottles, too, just in case the fruit isn’t enough. 

The sight he’s greeted with upon coming back has him groaning. 

Their omega is perched on Jackie’s lap now, his spot in the nest abandoned in favor of her lips. This position both emphasizes how small Malcolm really is and how _not_ small he is. He’s soft and lithe and beautiful, but he’s also decently muscled in a lean fashion, enough so that Gil believes he really could chase down killers the way he insists he wants to do. He’s taking the lead here, too, despite being on the beta’s lap the way she often sits on his own. His mouth is occupied with Jackie’s, taking what she offers. His hands are between them and touching her just how she likes, if the muffled moans are any indication.

Fuck, he lucked out in finding an omega that could be a true third to him and Jackie. He half wonders why he was so blind before but that’s a testament to how important their beta is, too. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, guys - I know it's been forever since I updated this. Unfortunately, some personal stuff put me in a place where I didn't feel up to writing longer fluff pieces, and this fic was designed to be pretty much nothing but smutty fluff. BUT I've finished the main story now! There will be one more chapter to round out Malcolm's heat. Then I plan on writing some oneshots to cover specific moments during his pregnancy and beyond rather than writing the entire nine months out. Those will be connected to this one in a series, which I'll set up as soon as this chapter is posted.
> 
> Hope you've enjoyed this so far! Look out for the last chapter on Tuesday (it needs editing/polishing yet).


	11. Chapter 11

Gil climbs into the nest and sits beside them, cracking open the container of watermelon as he watches them enjoy themselves. He’s oddly content there. There’s no jealousy, no urge to make himself part of the process. His alpha side has no want to assert himself. They’re his just as he’s theirs. In fact, thinking back on their phone call, back to that surge of arousal at knowing Jackie and Malcolm were knotted on the other end… Gil sucks his fingers clean of watermelon juice and gets off the bed. 

When he approaches them from the other side, they break their kiss to stare at him with similarly lidded eyes. Jackie’s lips curl at what he’s holding — the harness and toy she was using before he came home.

Malcolm, on the other hand, moans, leaning forward into Jackie as he shivers with arousal. Once he gets his bearings, he crawls off her lap to give her the room she needs. 

Gil rounds the bed again and gets back into the nest. Plucking a watermelon chunk from the container, the juice of it dripping down his fingers to curve past his wrist, he holds it out to the omega. Swollen lips part, pink tongue darting out to wrap around the fruit. His chest rumbles in satisfaction. “I can’t wait to see you ride her, kid.”

The bed dips. Jackie joins them, the knotting dildo securely attached, erect and ready. She reaches past Malcolm to grab some watermelon for herself and hums as the juice bursts in her mouth. “C’mon, babe.” She sits against the headboard, patting her lap. 

“I think I’m going to need to be bred again soon,” Malcolm warns even as he swings a leg over her. Her cock rests against his ass. 

The beta reaches around him to coat her hand in his slick. “I don’t need to knot you for long.” Long fingers grip the dildo and stroke, leaving a wet sheen behind. “You ready?”

“Definitely.”

Gil slips a hand down to his own dick as he watches his wife rub the tip over their omega’s eager hole. The tease doesn’t last long. He properly fists himself when Malcolm sinks down with a whine, his head tipped back, hair falling away from his flushed face. They’re clearly already comfortable with each other. Gil’s eyes trace the shape of the omega’s body with every lift and drop, the way Jackie’s hands cup her breasts, pinch her nipples. 

Her attention is wholly on Malcolm. 

~

Now that he knows what it really feels like to be fucked instead of desperately trying to fuck himself, Malcolm feels insatiable. His body is hotter, more needy. He aches even between waves, wanting the press of Jackie or Gil inside him. It doesn’t matter that Jackie’s cock feels so different in comparison. The only itch he instinctively knows it won’t scratch is the urge to be bred.

To be stuck on a knot and _filled_ until he can’t take anymore. Fuck, he felt so full before Gil’s knot went down. The only thing he thinks might top it is the moment when the alpha lets him complete the bond. If it feels anything close to how it felt with Jackie in the shower… Malcolm grinds down into her lap just thinking about it. His cock smears precome all over his stomach. 

“That’s it, babe,” she murmurs, gently tugging her left nipple. 

He kisses the corner of her mouth. He’s much too preoccupied with the way she fills him in this position to be able to do better than that. 

Beside them, Gil’s touching himself. Malcolm hasn’t looked over yet, but he can hear the repetitive, wet noises, and he fucks himself down even faster in response. The fact that the both of them are focused on him, are so aroused by him, is intoxicating. He reaches down to knock himself over the edge.

Jackie pushes his hand away. With one hand still on her breast, she wraps the other around him and uses his precome to ease the way. 

Every movement he makes is beautiful agony. Every rock up, he fucks into her fist. Every rock down, he stuffs himself with her cock. His pace stutters, flipflopping between fast and slow as the pleasure builds to overwhelming levels. “ _Jackie_ ,” he moans. 

Gil makes a strangled noise beside them. When Malcolm looks, he’s squeezing the base of his cock, right where his knot is beginning to swell. 

Malcolm drops down and whines as his orgasm is ripped out of him.

Jackie gently strokes him through it, the hand on her breast reaching down for the pump to knot him.

“No,” he insists, gasping. His whole body feels like jelly, his thighs starting to ache from how long he was riding her, but he lifts himself off her lap anyway, another whine escaping him as her cock slips from his hole. Fuck, he feels empty. He _should_ be knotted. He should be relaxing in her lap, her cock still firmly lodged in his hole. 

Instead, he moves over to Gil. Excess slick drips down his perineum. “Gil,” Malcolm says shakily, absolutely desperate to be filled.

“Hey, kid,” Gil grits out.

“I’m going to ride you until you breed me.” The omega climbs into his welcoming lap and lets the alpha guide himself in.

“Won’t take long,” Gil growls as he bottoms out. His knot is already inflated enough to catch.

Malcolm can’t wait. Bracing his hands on the alpha’s shoulders, he doesn’t hesitate to fuck himself on his hard cock despite the way the stimulation zings like electricity across his senses. He can’t take much more and yet he _needs_ it. 

Gil’s hands settle like brands on his hips. Although he doesn’t seize them, his fingers periodically dig in like he wants to. 

All in all, it takes less than a minute before his knot is too big to pop out of the omega’s greedy hole, and then, the alpha _does_ hold him down as he grunts and breeds him just as the omega asked. 

Malcolm groans, his spent cock twitching.

~

Jackie loosens the harness as she watches them. Underneath, she’s soaking wet. Her fingers glide along her lips with ease, and her right leg twitches as they brush past her clit. 

Even with him facing away from her now, the beta can tell Malcolm will need a nap before the next wave. He’s slumped into Gil, arms loosely wrapped around her husband’s neck, his rim stretched around the alpha’s dick. 

Gil holds him close and shifts slightly to lean back against the headboard a foot away from her. He looks dazed. His hands are possessive across the omega’s back. 

“Do you think it’ll take?” she asks idly, middle finger grazing her clit, hot and slick. 

Grip tightening, Gil’s chest rumbles audibly, a low purr escaping him. 

“I hope so,” Malcolm murmurs into his neck. “Can I?”

From where she sits, she can see the shock settle on her husband’s face — and the slight hope. For her part, Jackie can’t help but think of their omega swollen with their child, his stomach curved and full. She squeezes her thighs together and bites her lip as her orgasm slams into her. 

Gil clears his throat, swallows. “Yeah, Malcolm.” He takes a deep breath.

Malcolm opens his mouth and gently fits his teeth around unscarred skin. He bites.

Gil growls, holding their omega down, his hips jerking up to grind into him. 

It only makes Malcolm bite harder. When he does let go, his teeth are stained red. He takes in a deep gulp of air before leaning down to lick the excess off. His head drops back down to Gil’s shoulder, completely wiped.

Now all three of them have dual marks.

Jackie stands on unsteady legs and goes to the bathroom to clean up. 

“Are you really not on birth control?” she hears as she walks back in. Gil’s voice is quiet and devoid of judgement. 

Malcolm looks over at her sleepily. “No. I would have told you two, but —”

“Your heat came early,” she finishes.

He nods against their alpha. “Sorry.”

Gil’s chest rumbles in protest. “We told you it was your choice. We’ll love any children you choose to give us.”

“What he means,” Jackie says, seeing the slight trepidation still on Malcolm’s face, “is that he’s both horny _and_ ecstatic.” She gets back into the nest and fits herself up against Gil’s side, her leg brushing against their omega’s. “Me, too, babe.” 

Malcolm eagerly if sleepily accepts her kiss. “I love you two,” he admits, voice cracking.

“We love you, too, city boy,” Gil says and brushes the omega’s hair out of his face. 

~

Malcolm’s heat lasts another four days. It’ll probably be slightly shorter in the future, after the bond has settled and the hormones calm down. By the last twenty-four hours, his needs aren’t so urgent, his wants not so dire. 

Gil is grateful for that, in some ways. His own rut has closely followed the omega’s heat, and while he knows it’ll continue to work that way for as long as the both of them are alive, experiencing a bonding heat with an omega after being so used to a bond with a beta was a touch overwhelming. Now he’s fucking Malcolm slowly, deeply, his feet planted firmly on the carpet at the foot of the bed. It’s a far cry from the frantic pace of the day before. His thumbs press into soft skin, likely to leave bruises. He groans softly.

Malcolm is bent over the edge of the mattress in front of him with his face buried in Jackie’s pussy, her legs over his shoulders, his hands gripping her ass. His moans are muffled against her lips. 

“Fuck,” Jackie gasps. Her head rolls back, neck arching as she tightens her grip on the omega’s hair. Her legs cross behind his head.

In response, Malcolm only pulls her closer, draws out her orgasm.

This is a sight Gil’s seen several times over the last few days. It never gets any less effective. He grunts as he feels his knot begin to swell. Maybe this isn’t the best position to knot in, but he can’t resist watching Malcolm take Jackie apart any more than Malcolm can resist the taste of her wet cunt. 

She lets her legs drop back to the bed, her grip loosening. 

Muffled moans become louder, clearer. Malcolm lays his head on the bed between her thighs. 

The mess of her juices on his chin makes Gil’s cock twitch.

“Please,” the omega begs. “Want your knot, Alpha.” He licks his lips clumsily. “Fuck me full. Breed me.”

Gil’s never been in the habit of denying his partners in the bedroom. He fucks him harder. “Good omega,” he growls. Squeezing a hand between Malcolm and the mattress, he fists the omega’s dick and works him in tandem with his thrusts until his knot catches. Then he strips Malcolm dick until he’s wailing, hole spasming around Gil’s fully inflated knot. 

Somehow they manage to get onto the bed. 

~

## Epilogue.

Nearly six weeks after his heat ends, Malcolm comes back home from a visit with his mother and sister with an unusually silly grin on his face.

Jackie raises a brow as she cuts a carrot into coins. “What’s got into you, babe?”

He flushes, but his grin spreads wider. “You two,” he says cheekily. 

“ _Oh_.” She puts the knife down and wipes her hands off on a towel. “Oh, Malcolm.” She pulls him into a tight embrace, purposefully brushing her nose against her mark.

“What are we celebrating?” Gil stands in the doorway. His hair is damp yet, and he’s changed into sweats after work. 

Malcolm smiles at him with happy tears in his eyes. “I’m pregnant.”

That knocks the air out of the alpha immediately. His eyes widen, his lips part in shock. When it finally registers, when he’s able to process it, he takes three long strides to where they both stand, still hugging, and joins them, kissing Malcolm’s temple. “Can’t say I thought it would happen so soon,” he murmurs. “God.”

They stay there, wrapped up in each other in the middle of the kitchen, for a long time.

Their little family of three is growing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! The final chapter. 
> 
> As you can see, I've made this into a series. I'm currently trying to figure out a schedule with all my series and long form fics so that nothing goes too long without an update of some kind, but I don't have anything figured out quite yet.
> 
> I hope you guys liked it! :D


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